1   ;  - 

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BOSSUET 

ON 

DEVOTION  TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN 


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DEVOTION 
TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN 


BEING  THE  SUBSTANCE  OF  ALL  THE  SERMONS  FOR 
MARY'S  FEASTS  THROUGHOUT  THE  YEAR 


BY 

^  JACQUES  BENIGNE  BOSSUET 

L-  BISHOP   OF    MEAUX 

CONDENSED,    ARRANGED,   AND   TRANSLATED    BY 
F.    M.    CAPES 

WITH   AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

The  Rev.  WILLIAM  T.  GORDON 

PRIEST  OF  THE  LONDON  ORATORY 


LONGMANS,     GREEN,    AND    CO. 

39   PATERNOSTER   ROW,   LONDON 

NEW  YORK  AND  BOMBAY 

1899 


^ihU  (JDhatst. 


GULIELMUS  T.  GORDON, 

Congr.  Orat.  ;  Censor  Deputatus. 


impritnatttr : 


HERBERTUS  CARDINALIS  VAUGHAN, 

Archiepiscopus  Westmonast. 


Die  32  Januarii,  1899. 


TO 

THE  NINE  CHOIRS  OF  ANGELS 

THIS  ENGLISH  FORM 
OF  A  GREAT  PREACHER's  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  THEIR  QUEEN 

is  DcJ)icate&. 

'*  Regina  Angelorum,  orafro  nobis!" 


INTRODUCTION. 

Bossuet's  Sermons  on  the  Feasts  of  our  Blessed 
Lady  number  about  twenty — there  being  in 
many  cases  two  or  three,  and  sometimes  even 
four,  for  the  same  festival.  Some  of  these  are 
mere  repetitions  of  each  other  as  to  matter, 
with  slight  changes  in  form  to  suit  different 
audiences  or  occasions,  whilst  others,  though 
not  actually  verbal  repetitions,  are  so  much 
alike  in  portions  that,  presented  to  readers  in 
their  integrity,  they  would  be  simply  weari- 
some. The  writer  of  this  English  version  has 
not  therefore  attempted  a  literal  or  consecutive 
translation  of  the  sermons  as  they  stand,  but 
has  aimed  at  so  selecting,  combining,  and  con- 
densing them,  as  to  produce  a  set  of  discourses 
on  Mary's  Feasts  throughout  the  year  that 
should  contain  the  whole  substance  of  Bossuet's 
teaching  ;  and  in  passages  of  a  strictly  theo 
logical  nature  the  actual  words  of  the  preacher 


X  Introduction. 

have  been  adhered  to  as  closely  as  they  could 
be  in  English. 

Repetitions  have  been,  as  a  rule,  avoided,  and 
where  this  could  not  well  be  done,  the  translator 
has  tried  to  account  for  the  repeated  matter  by 
reference  to  what  has  gone  before,  so  as  to 
show  its  necessity.  On  the  other  hand,  care 
has  been  taken  not  to  omit  anything  of  im- 
portance to  the  preacher's  train  of  thought  ; 
and  it  is  hoped  that  this  small  volume  fairly 
sets  forth  the  substantial  contents  of  Bossuet's 
twenty  sermons  on  the  Feasts  of  our  Blessed 
Lady, 

It  may  seem  to  many  that  another  book  on 
Devotion  to  our  Blessed  Lady  is  not  needed  as 
so  many  already  exist.  But  different  books 
suit  different  minds,  and  I  have  long  wished 
to  be  able  to  put  into  the  hands  of  English 
readers  Bossuet's  learned,  logical,  and  at  the 
same  time  devout  exposition  of  Catholic  doc- 
trine on  our  Lady's  dignity,  and  on  the  relations 
which  Almighty  God  has  willed  to  establish 
between  her  and  the  members  of  the  Mystical 
Body  of  her  Divine  Son.  Bossuet's  great 
ability  and  profound  learning  must  command 
respect,  and  his  readers  cannot  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed   with    the    authority    with    which    his 


Introduction.  xi 

familiarity  with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  his 
wide  knowledge  of  the  writings  of  the  eariy 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  enable  him  to  speak. 

Catholics,  as  well  as  non-Catholics,  may  need 
to  have  brought  home  to  them  that  devotion 
to  Mary  is  not  merely  a  beautiful  addition  to 
Christian  piety,  but  that  it  is  essential  to  the 
full  comprehension  of  the  mystery  of  the  In- 
carnation, as  is  shown  by  the  action  of  the 
Council  of  Ephesus  which  not  only  decreed 
that  the  title  of  "  Mother  of  God  "  was  rightly 
given  to  Mary  but  condemned  as  heretics  those 
who  denied  it. 

Now  the  very  foundation  of  Bossuet's  teach- 
ing on  the  honour  and  love  due  to  our  Blessed 
Lady,  is  that  her  co-operation  in  the  Incarna- 
tion formed  an  integral  part  of  the  merciful 
design  of  God  for  the  redemption  of  man,  and 
that  "  our  love  of  our  Divine  Saviour  is  the 
unchangeable  foundation  of  our  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin".  In  proof  of  these  proposi- 
tions Bossuet  brings  out  so  wonderfully  the 
hidden  meaning  of  the  sacred  words  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  supports  his  interpretation  with  so 
many  quotations  from  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers,  that  we  are  filled  with  admiration, 
and    the  hearts   of  simple  Christians  are  de- 


xii  Introduction. 

lighted  to  find  how  their  instinctive  love  of 
Mary,  and  confidence  in  the  power  of  her  inter- 
cession, are  in  harmony  with  the  dogmatic 
teaching  of  the  Saints  and  Doctors  of  the 
Church  in  all  ages. 

To  non-Catholics  Bossuet's  explanation  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
will  be  most  useful — that  doctrine  has  been  so 
persistently  misunderstood,  and  often  so  per- 
sistently misrepresented,  that  Bossuet's  clear 
and  logical  defence  of  it  will  be  invaluable, 
and  will  impress  them  the  more  from  the  fact 
that  it  was  written  so  long  before  the  Vatican 
Council  defined  it  as  an  article  of  faith. 

From  Bossuet's  teaching  we  learn  that,  to 
quote  Cardinal  Manning's  words,  "  the  titles  of 
honour  given  to  Mary  are  not  metaphors  but 
truths — they  express,  not  poetical  or  rhetorical 
ideas,  but  true  and  living  relations  between  her 
and  her  Divine  Son  and  between  her  and  our- 
selves ". 

I  will  conclude  by  again  quoting  Cardinal 
Manning,  who  warns  Catholics  "never  to  shrink 
from  calling  her  that  which  God  has  made 
her ;  never  to  fear  to  seek  her  in  those  offices 
of  grace  with  which  God  has  invested  her ". 
"  May  our  Divine  Lord,"  he  continues,   "  pre- 


Introduction.  xiii 

serve  us  from  giving  way  a  hair's  breadth, 
before  the  face  of  anti-Catholic  censors,  in  the 
filial  piety  of  our  faith,  or  the  childlike  con- 
fidence of  our  devotion  towards  His  Blessed 
Mother  and  our  own." 

WILLIAM  T.  GORDON, 

Of  the  Oratory. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  On    the    Grounds   of    Devotion    to   the    Blessed 
Virgin  and  the  Saints  (Preached  on  a  Feast  of 

Mary's  Conception) i 

II.  The  Blessed  Virgin's  Conception      ....  17 

III.  Mary  a   Foreshadowing  of  Christ   (Preached  on  a 

Feast  of  her  Nativity) 39 

IV.  The  Blessed  Virgin's  Nativity 52 

V.  The  Feast  of  the  Annunciation        ....  69 

VI.  The  Feast  of  the  Visitation 83 

VII.  The  Hiddenness  and  Poverty  of  Jesus  and   Mary 

(Preached  on  a  Feast  of  the  Purification)      .        .  99 

VIII.  The  Blessed  Virgin's  Compassion      ....  iii 

IX.  The  Assumption  of  Mary 132 


I. 


ON  THE  GROUNDS  OF  DEVOTION  TO  THE  BLESSED 
VIRGIN  AND  THE  SAINTS,  AND  ON  THE  NATURE 
OF  TRUE  DEVOTION. 

(From  a  Sermon  preached  on  a  Feast  of  Mary's  Conception.) 

Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  a  matter  concerning 
which  there  are  two  important  points  to  be  specially 
considered  : — first,  the  grounds  on  which  this  devotion 
is  solidly  founded  ;  secondly,  the  rules  to  be  invariably 
followed  in  practising  it.  A  clear  understanding  of 
these  points  will  help  us  to  honour  her  as  true  Christians 
ought,  not  on  one  of  her  feasts  only,  but  on  all  those 
presented  in  succession  by  the  Church  to  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Faithful. 

With  Advent,  which  opens  the  ecclesiastical  year, 
comes  the  Feast  of  Our  Lady's  Conception.  As  on 
this  day  we  really  commemorate  the  first  moment  of 
her  existence,  and  consequently  that  of  our  first 
relations  with  her  as  our  most  favoured  fellow- 
creature,  there  could  not  be  a  more  fitting  day  for 
treating  the  subject  of  why,  and  how,  we  are  to  pay 
her  homage. 

^0         ' 


2  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

I. 

First,  then,  on  what  basis  is  our  devotion  to  Mary 
founded  ?  "  No  one,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  can  lay  any 
foundation  but  the  one  that  has  been  laid — that  is, 
Jesus  Christ."  Now,  in  a  pre-eminent  manner,  Our 
Divine  Saviour  is  the  foundation  of  the  honour  we  pay 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  because  we  have  received  Him, 
in  fact,  through  her.  God  predestined  Mary,  before  all 
time,  to  be  the  means  of  giving  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
world.  Having  called  her  to  so  glorious  a  ministry. 
He  did  not  choose  that  she  should  be  a  merely  passive 
channel  of  His  grace.  He  made  her,  farther,  a  volun- 
tary instrument  who  should  contribute  to  the  great 
work  by  the  use  of  her  own  will.  Is  not  this  clear 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  Incarnation  was 
announced  to  Mary  ?  When  the  moment  for  accom- 
plishing that  Mystery — which  has  kept  all  nature 
expectant  throughout  the  ages — has  arrived,  the 
Eternal  Father  sends  an  angel  to  make  it  known  to 
her ;  and  the  angel  awaits  the  maiden's  decision,  so 
that  the  great  act  shall  not  be  performed  without  her 
consent.  The  moment  she  has  given  this  the  heavens 
are  opened,  the  Son  of  God  is  made  man,  and  the 
world  has  a  Saviour. 

Hence,  the  love  and  longing  of  Mary  were  in  a 
measure  necessary  for  our  salvation.  St.  Thomas 
declares  that  "the  fulness  of  grace  she  then  received 
was  so  great  that  it  brought  her  to  a  most  intimate 
union  with  the  Author  of  Grace ;  that  this  fitted  her  to 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.     3 

receive  into  her  holy  womb  the  One  who  contains  all 
graces ;  and  that  thus,  in  conceiving  Him,  she  became 
in  some  sort  the  source  of  that  grace  which  He  was  to 
pour  forth  over  all  mankind — and  so  concurred  in  giving 
the  human  race  its  Deliverer  ". 

There  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  this  fact  which 
is  not  sufficiently  borne  in  mind  :  namely,  that  God 
having  once  elected  to  give  us  Jesus  Christ  through 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  this  order  of  things  can  never 
change  ;  for  the  gifts  of  God  are  "without  repentance". 
It  is,  and  always  will  be,  true,  that  having  once 
received  the  Author  of  our  salvation  through  her,  we 
shall  necessarily  continue  to  receive  help  towards  that 
salvation  in  the  same  manner.  The  Incarnate  Word 
is  the  universal  principle  of  grace ;  but  the  Christian 
life  in  its  various  phases  consists  in  the  particular 
applications  of  the  grace  proceeding  from  this  principle 
to  the  individual  needs  of  each  soul.  Mary,  having 
been  once  chosen  as  the  means  by  which  grace  should 
come  into  the  world,  has,  as  a  natural  consequence,  her 
share  in  its  application  to  the  souls  of  men  for  their 
salvation. 

Theology  recognises  three  principal  operations  of 
Jesus  Christ's  grace  :  God  calls  us  ;  God  justifies  us  ; 
God  grants  us  perseverance.  The  calling  is  the  first 
step  ;  justification  constitutes  our  progress  ;  persever- 
ance brings  the  journey  to  an  end,  and  gives  us  in  our 
true  country  what  can  never  be  had  together  on  earth 
— rest  and  glory. 


4  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Now,  every  Christian  knows  that  for  all  these  three 
states  the  power  of  Christ  is  needed  ;  but  perhaps  few 
really  believe  how  clearly  Scripture  indicates  Mary's 
perpetual  association  with  their  work  in  the  soul.  A 
few  words,  however,  will  prove  this. 

(i)  The  Divine  Call  is  typified  by  the  sudden 
enlightenment  that  St.  John  the  Baptist  received  in 
his  mother's  womb.  If  we  reflect  on  this  miracle  we 
see  in  it  an  image  of  sinners  called  by  grace.  John, 
hidden  within  his  mother's  flesh,  is  in  utter  blindness 
and  deafness:  but  who  so  blind  and  deaf  as  the  sinner? 
The  thunder  of  God's  judgments  breaks  over  him 
unheard  ;  the  very  light  of  the  Gospel  fails  to  open  his 
eyes.  Yet,  in  the  dark  places  where  he  has  hidden 
himself,  does  not  God  find  him  out,  and  show  him  the 
truth  as  in  a  lightning-flash  ?  Again  :  Jesus  comes  to 
John  unexpectedly  :  He  prevents  him  :  He  suddenly 
rouses  and  attracts  his  hitherto  insensible  heart. 
And  how  does  God  come  to  the  sinner  ?  He  comes 
unasked,  unsought,  and  calls  him  to  repentance  ;  He 
inspires  the  sinful  heart  with  a  secret,  unaccountable, 
disgust  and  bitterness  that  compel  it  to  regret  its 
lost  peace  and  to  long,  almost  unconsciously,  for 
reconciliation.  Even  whilst  the  soul  is  in  the  act  of 
fleeing  from  Him  it  suddenly  finds  itself  arrested  and 
compelled  to  turn. 

But  once  more  : — when  God  gives  us,  in  the  leaping 
of  the  unborn  St.  John,  an  image  of  the  sinner 
"  prevented  by  grace,"  He  shows  us  at  the  same  time 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.     5 

Mary's  concurrence  in  the  work.  If  John,  thus  called, 
as  it  were  struggles  to  escape  from  the  prison  that 
confines  him,  at  whose  voice  does  he  so  act  ?  "  For, 
behold,  as  soon  as  the  voice  of  Thy  salutation  sounded 
in  my  ears,  the  infant  in  my  womb  leapt  for  joy ! " 
So  St.  Elizabeth  declares  ;  and  St.  Ambrose  says 
that  Mary  "  raised  John  the  Baptist  above  nature," 
and  by  her  mere  voice  caused  him  to  drink  in  the 
spirit  of  holiness,  before  he  had  breathed  the  breath 
of  life  : — "  he  obeyed  before  he  was  brought  forth  ". 
According  to  the  same  doctor,  the  grace  given  to 
Mary  was  so  great  that  it  not  only  kept  her  a  virgin, 
but  conferred  the  gift  of  innocence  on  those  she  visited. 
Hence  we  need  not  wonder  if  St.  John,  whom  the 
mother  of  His  Saviour  anointed,  so  to  speak,  with  the 
oil  of  her  presence  and  the  perfume  of  her  purity  for 
three  months,  was  born  and  lived  (as  the  Church's 
tradition  holds)  in  perfect  freedom  from  sin. 

(2)  Justification,  God's  next  great  work  in  man's 
soul,  is  represented  at  the  marriage  of  Cana  in  the 
persons  of  the  Apostles.  For  what  says  the  Evangelist? 
"Jesus  turned  water  into  wine"  (His  first  miracle); 
"and  He  showed  His  glory,  and  His  disciples  believed 
in  Him."  The  Apostles  had  already  been  called,  but 
they  had  not  hitherto  had  a  lively  enough  faith  to  be 
justified  : — ^justification  being  attributed  to  faith  as  the 
first  principle,  or  root,  of  all  grace,  though  not  sufficient 
by  itself  for  salvation.  The  sacred  text  could  not 
express  "justifying   faith"   in  clearer  terms  than   it 


6  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

does  here  ;  but  neither  could  it  put  before  us  more 
plainly  the  Blessed  Virgin's  share  in  this  marvellous 
work.  Was  not  that  great  miracle,  confirming  the 
Apostles'  faith,  the  effect  of  Mary's  charity  and  inter- 
cession ?  True  : — when  she  first  asked  for  the  grace, 
she  seemed  to  be  repelled.  "  Woman,"  said  the 
Saviour,  "  what  is  there  between  thee  and  Me  ?  My 
hour  has  not  yet  come  "  (John  ii.  4).  But  though 
these  words  sound  rough,  and  appear  like  a  curt 
refusal,  Mary  did  not  hold  herself  refused.  She 
understood  her  Son  ;  and  she  took  His  rebuff  as 
typical  of  that  ingenious  love  by  which  He  often  tests 
the  prayer  of  faithful  souls,  only  to  show  that  humility 
and  persevering  confidence  may  win  what  a  first 
request  has  not  obtained.  Her  expectation  was  not 
deceived :  Jesus,  who  had  seemed  to  deny  her,  did 
what  she  asked  ;  and  even — St.  Chrysostom  says — 
forestalled  the  hour  He  had  determined  on  for  His 
first  miracle,  to  please  her.  Again  :  this  miracle 
wrought  at  Mary's  prayer  is  unlike  other  miracles  of 
Christ  in  being  worked  for  a  really  unnecessary  thing. 
There  is  no  special  need  of  more  wine  at  their  wedding 
feast  ;  but  His  mother  wishes  it,  and  that  is  enough. 
Are  we  to  believe  it  an  accidental  coincidence  that 
she  should  interpose  only  in  this  particular  miracle, 
which  is  followed  by  a  result  embodying  an  express 
image  of  the  justification  of  sinners  ?  No  :  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  Holy  Spirit  intended  us  to 
understand  just  what  St.  Augustine  understood  by 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.     7 

the  mystery  ;  and  what,  therefore,  has  been  accepted 
as  its  meaning  from  the  first  ages  of  Scriptural 
interpretation.  "  The  glorious  Virgin  " — writes  the 
great  doctor — "  being  Mother  of  our  Head  according 
to  the  flesh,  had  to  be  Mother  of  all  His  members 
according  to  the  Spirit,  by  co-operating  through  her 
divinity  in  the  spiritual  birth  of  the  children  of 
God." 

Lastly,  we  must  go  on  to  see  how  she  contributes 
not  only  to  the  hirih  of  the  soul  but  to  its  faithful 
perseverance. 

(3)  As  the  Baptist  typifies  the  sinner  called  out  of 
darkness,  and  the  Apostles  at  Cana  in  Galilee  the  soul 
justified  by  faith,  so  does  St.  John  the  Beloved  at  the 
foot  of  the  Cross  stand  for  the  children  of  grace  and 
adoption  who  persevere  with  Jesus  to  the  end.  With 
Mary,  he  follows  Christ  even  to  the  Cross  while  the 
other  disciples  take  flight,  clinging  with  constancy  to 
the  mystical  tree,  and  generously  ready  to  die  with 
his  Lord.  Thus,  he  is  naturally  a  figure  of  the 
persevering  Faithful.  Now — mark  this — to  John, 
particularly,  as  we  know,  Christ  gives  His  Mother  : 
those  whom  he  here  typifies  are  to  be  Mary's  special 
children.  Surely,  then,  she  will  make  it  her  peculiar 
care  to  beg  the  grace  of  perseverance  for  every 
Christian  soul  ? 

Here,  then,  is  the  promised  proof: — those  who 
know  what  mysterious  meanings  are  hidden  beneath 
the  words  of  the  sacred  text  recognise,  in  these  three 


8  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

examples,  that  Mary  through  her  intercession  is 
Mother  alike  of  the  called,  the  justified,  and  the 
persevering  ;  and  that  her  untiring  love  is  in  fact 
instrumental  in  every  operation  of  grace.  The  great 
point  for  us  to  remember,  as  the  solid  ground  of  our 
devotion,  is  that  her  power  with  Our  Lord  remains  the 
same  now  that  it  was  during  His  life  on  earth  ;  for 
natural  feelings  are  raised  and  perfected,  not  ex- 
tinguished, in  glory.  Hence,  the  most  Blessed  Virgin 
need  never  fear  a  refusal :  Christ's  own  love  pleads 
on  the  side  of  Mary's  prayers,  because  the  very 
human  nature  that  He  assumed  speaks  to  Him 
through  her ;  and  thus  we  have,  for  ever  pleading  our 
cause  with  God,  that  most  powerful  of  all  human 
advocates — a  Mother  at  the  feet  of  her  Son. 

2. 

Now,  having  seen  the  real  basis  on  which  the 
honour  paid  by  the  Church  to  Our  Lady  rests  (and 
woe  be  to  those  who  would  fain  deprive  Christians  of 
her  help !)  let  us  carefully  consider  in  what  way  devo- 
tion to  her  should  be  practised  ;  for,  even  though 
furnished  with  a  lasting  foundation  for  our  piety,  we 
may  show  it  by  what  are  only  vain  and  superstitious 
practices.  There  is  a  true  devotion,  and  a  false  one  ; 
and  the  next  point  to  treat  concerns  the  kind  of  wor- 
ship that  we  owe  respectively  to  God,  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  to  all  the  Saints. 

The  fundamental  rule  of  the  honour  we  pay  to  the 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.     9 

Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Saints  is  this :  that  we  must 
entirely  refer  it  all  to  God  and  to  our  eternal  salvation. 
If  it  were  not  referred  to  God  it  would  be  a  purely 
human  act,  and  we  surely  know  that  the  Saints, 
being  filled  with  God  and  His  glory,  will  not  accept 
purely  human  devotion.  What  does  "religion  "  mean 
but  a  binding  to  God  ?  And  how  could  any  act  that 
was  not  religious  please  His  holy  ones  ?  Hence,  all 
devotion  to  Mary  is  useless  and  superstitious  that 
does  not  lead  us  to  the  possession  of  God  and  the 
enjoyment  of  our  heavenly  inheritance.  This  is, 
indeed,  the  general  rule  of  all  true  religious  worship  : 
that  it  jiows  from,  and  returns  to,  God,  and  is  in  no 
wise  diverted  from  Him  by  being  extended  to  His 
creatures. 

To  come  to  particulars  in  the  matter  :  there  are 
two  special  points,  concerning  prayer  to  Our  Lady 
and  the  Saints,  on  which  the  Church  is  accused  by 
her  enemies  of  erroneous  practice,  the  first  of  which 
is  "  idolatry  ".  In  other  words.  Catholics  are  often 
charged  with  acting  almost  like  the  heathen  in  so 
using  their  canonised  fellow-creatures  as  to  be  guilty 
of  multiplying  God,  by  turning  them  into  so  many 
minor  deities  to  whom  they  pay  divine  homage.  The 
folly  and  injustice  of  such  an  accusation  is  very 
simply  proved  by  reference  to  the  rule  just  given. 
The  only  honour  recognised  by  the  Church  as  due  to 
her  Saints  is  an  honour  strictly  in  accordance  with 
that  rule  ;  which  rule  is  itself  founded  upon  the  central 


lo  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

principle   of  our  Faith ;   namely,  on   the  unity  and 
supremacy  of  God. 

We  Christians  adore  but  one  God  ;  single,  omni- 
potent, creator  and  dispenser  of  all  things  ;  in  whose 
name  we  were  consecrated  at  baptism ;  and  in  whom 
alone^  we  recognise  absolute  sovereignty,  unlimited 
goodness,  and  perfect  fulness  of  Being.  We  honour 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Saints,  not  by  a  worship 
of  necessary  service,  or  of  subjection — for,  in  the  order 
of  religion,  we  are  free  as  regards  creatures,  and 
subject  only  to  God — but  by  an  honour  of  brotherly 
love  and  fellowship.  In  them,  we  pay  homage  to 
wonders  worked  "by  the  right  hand  of  the  Most 
High  "  ;  we  revere  the  communication  to  them  of  His 
grace — the  diffusion,  through  them,  of  His.  glory.  In 
short,  what  we  honour  in  them  is  the  very  fact  of  their 
dependence  on  that  Primary  Being  to  Whom  alone 
our  true  worship  relates ;  the  sole  principle  of  all 
good,  and  the  end  of  all  our  desires,  as  of  theirs.  We 
must,  then,  entirely  repudiate  the  fear,  professed  by 
our  enemies,  that  the  glory  of  God  can  be  diminished 
by  our  conceiving  high  notions  of  Mary  and  the  Saints. 
Would  it  not  be  attributing  miserable  weakness  to 
the  Creator  to  imagine  Him  jealous  of  His  own  gifts, 
and  of  the  light  He  sheds  on  His  creatures  ?  Just  as 
well  might  we  expect  the  sun,  if  he  had  life,  to  be 
jealous  of  the  moon,  who  shines  merely  by  reflection 
of  his  own  rays !  No  matter  how  highly  we  may 
honour   Mary's   perfections   Jesus    Christ   could   not 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.    1 1 

possibly  envy  her,  seeing  that  He  is  Himself  the 
source  of  every  grace  she  possesses.  Let  the  critics 
who  accuse  us  of  idolatry  in  our  worship  of  the  Saints 
remember  that  they  condemn,  with  us,  the  Ambroses, 
the  Augustines,  the  Chrysostoms,  on  whose  doctrine 
and  example  they  know  our  practice  to  be  founded, 
and  whom  they  themselves  acknowledge  as  authorities. 
The  second  accusation  commonly  made  against  us 
is  that  we  make  for  ourselves  many  mediators,  instead 
of  relying  on  "  the  One  Sole  Mediator,  Jesus  Christ, 
Who  saved  us  with  His  blood  "  ;  and  our  motive  for 
this  error  is  often,  further,  said  to  be  that — like  certain 
ancient  philosophers — we  deem  God  Himself,  even 
though  made  man  for  us,  to  be  inaccessible  immediately 
from  His  extreme  purity.  Now,  if  any  Catholic  ever 
allows  such  a  notion  as  this  to  lay  hold  of  him,  and 
make  him  put  the  Saints,  to  the  smallest  extent,  in 
the  place  of  Christ,  it  can  only  be  because  of  his  most 
culpable  ignorance  or  neglect  of  his  own  Church's 
teaching.  No  one  is  taught  so  plainly  as  we  are  that 
we  were  created  by  God  for  immediate  intercourse 
with  Him  ;  but  that  we  lost  our  privilege,  for  time,  by 
sin  ;  and  that  we  should  have  lost  it  also  for  eternity  if 
the  Son  had  not  reconciled  us  to  the  Father  by  taking 
our  sins  on  Himself.  Hence,  we  ask  absolutely 
nothing  except  in  the  name  of  Our  Saviour,  as  every 
child  who  has  properly  learnt  its  catechism  is  fully 
aware.  All  we  do,  in  begging  the  Saints'  prayers,  is 
to  beg  the  prayers  of  those  among  our  own  brethren 


12  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

who  are  specially  dear  to  that  Saviour  Himself  because 
of  their  supreme  love  for  Him.  We  all — Protestant 
and  Catholic  alike — ask  for  the  prayers  of  our  living 
friends  and  fellow-Christians,  and  all  believe  that  "  the 
prayer  of  the  just  man  availeth  much  ".  The  doctrine 
of  "  the  Communion  of  Saints,"  as  Catholics  put  it 
into  practice,  is  merely  the  carrying  out  of  this  prin- 
ciple with  regard  to  those  who  are  already  in  the 
company  of  God,  but  whom  we  believe  to  be,  through 
His  power,  still  present  in  spirit  among  us,  and  to 
have  our  interests  at  heart  though  no  longer  with  us 
in  the  flesh. 

There  is  yet  another  principle  involved  in  the  true 
doctrine  of  honour  to  the  Saints,  which  must  be 
touched  upon  before  we  leave  the  subject ;  and  that 
is  the  great  advantage  to  ourselves  contained  in 
practising  devotion  towards  them  of  a  right  sort. 
The  Christian  is  bound  to  imitate  what  he  honours, 
and  the  object  of  his  worship  must  also  be  the  model 
of  his  life.  His  God  is  a,  perfect  God  ;  and  hence  he 
must  try  to  make  himself  perfect,  and  worship  only 
those  who  have  given  honour  to  their  Maker  by 
imitating  His  perfections.  When  we  venerate  the 
Saints  it  is  not  to  increase  their  glory :  that  is  full  ; 
they  have  their  perfect  measure  of  it  with  God  in 
heaven.  We  pay  them  homage — over  and  above  the 
motive  of  giving  glory  to  God — that  we  may  incite 
ourselves  to  follow  them,  and  we  ask  their  prayers  for 
the  same  purpose.     This  is  the  sense  of  the  Church 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.     1 3 

in  instituting  the  feasts  she  does  in  honour  of  the 
Saints  ;  and  it  is  shown  in  the  collect  for  St.  Stephen's 
Day,  which  says  :  "  O  Lord  1  give  us  grace  to  imitate 
that  which  we  honour  ",  It  is  the  constant  tradition 
of  the  Church  that  the  most  essential  part  of  devotion 
to  the  blessed  in  heaven  is  to  profit  by  their  example. 
Without  this,  all  homage  is  vain.  Whatever  indivi- 
dual saint  we  are  devout  to,  we  must  try  to  acquire 
that  one's  special  virtues,  and  most  of  all  are  we  bound 
to  do  this  where  the  Queen  of  all  Saints — the  Virgin 
of  virgins — is  concerned.  If  we  deeply  revere — as 
every  true  Catholic  does — the  virginal  chastity  which 
enabled  her  to  conceive  the  Son  of  God  in  her  womb, 
we  can  duly  express  our  veneration  only  by  doing  our 
best,  according  to  our  states  of  life,  to  imitate  it  in 
our  own  souls.  So  far  does  St.  Ambrose  go  in  his 
conviction  of  the  power  which  the  reverent  imitation 
of  Mary's  virtue  may  confer  on  her  true  clients,  that 
he  says  :  "  every  chaste  soul  that  keeps  its  purity  and 
innocence  untarnished  conceives  the  Eternal  Wisdom  in 
itself ;  and  is  filled  with  God  and  His  grace  after  the 
pattern  of  Mary  ". 

To  women  in  especial  does  this  duty  of  following 
the  Blessed  Virgin's  example  apply.  Many  portraits 
have  been  painted  of  Mary,  by  many  artists,  each 
painting  her  according  to  his  own  idea.  There  can, 
however,  be  only  one  true  likeness  of  her :  namely,  a 
copy  of  her  character  as  shown  forth  in  the  Gospels, 
the  account  of  which  forms  a  portrait  drawn,  if  we  may 


14  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

venture  to  say  so,  by  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself,  And 
what  is  the  character  thus  set  before  us  in  Scripture  ? 
This  must  be  specially  noted.  It  is  neither  Mary's  high 
intercourse  with  God,  nor  her  great  and  special  graces, 
nor  her  power,  that  is  dwelt  upon  in  the  Gospels.  All 
these  are  kept  in  the  background.  What  is  brought 
before  our  notice  is  simply  her  ordinary  every-day 
virtues,  so  to  speak,  that  she  may  be  a  model  for  daily, 
familiar  use.  Now,  the  essence  of  Mary's  character,  as 
thus  displayed,  is  her  modesty  and  self-restraint.  She 
never  thinks  of  showing  herself,  though  she  was  doubt- 
less beautiful ;  nor  of  decking  herself,  though  young ; 
nor  of  exalting  herself,  though  noble  ;  nor  of  enriching 
herself,  though  poor.  God  alone  is  enough  for  her, 
and  constitutes  her  whole  happiness.  Her  delights 
are  in  retirement ;  and  so  little  is  she  accustomed  to 
the  sight  of  man  that  she  is  troubled  even  at  the 
appearance  of  an  angel.  Nevertheless,  even  in  her 
trouble  she  thinks  :  she  "  considers  within  herself  what 
manner  of  salutation  this  can  be  ".  Surprise  and  dis- 
turbance neither  put  her  off  her  guard  nor  stifle 
reflection.  Again,  when  her  thought  has  taken  form 
in  resolution,  she  speaks — and  speaks  fearlessly.  She 
has  her  chastity  to  guard  ;  and  so  great  is  a  true 
virgin's  love  of  this  that  it  makes  her  not  only  deaf  to 
the  promises  of  man,  but  proof — in  reverence  be  it 
spoken — even  against  the  promises  of  God.  Mary, 
therefore,  answers  Gabriel — with  no  superfluous  words, 
no  curious  or  excited  question  or  argument — but  with 


Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saints.    1 5 

the  calm  and  modest  inquiry :  "  How  shall  this  be 
done,  because  I  know  not  man  ? "  Blessed  among 
women  !  to  have  spoken  only  in  defence  of  her  purity 
and  to  show  her  obedience  !  What  a  contrast  and 
example,  at  this  supreme  moment  of  her  life,  to  the 
kind  of  women  who  never  control  themselves  or  pause 
to  reflect  in  disturbing  circumstances  or  before  grave 
decisions  ;  but  who  let  feeling  and  excitement  get  the 
better  of  them,  pour  themselves  forth  in  vain  and 
curious  talk,  or  rush  headlong  into  undertakings  with- 
out knowledge  or  reflection ! 

And  after  this  great  event  of  the  angel's  mission, 
what  is  Mary's  conduct  ?  Is  she  either  selfishly  filled 
in  thought  with  her  own  greatness,  or  anxious  for  the 
immediate  display  of  her  glory  to  the  world  ?  Just 
the  contrary :  wrapped  in  her  deep  lowliness,  she  is 
only  surprised  that  God  should  have  conferred  such  a 
dignity  on  her ;  and — mother  of  her  Creator  as  she 
now  is,  whom  all  her  fellow-creatures  might  well  hasten 
to  honour — she  hurries  off  to  her  cousin  Elizabeth,  to 
rejoice  with  her  over  the  grace  that  she  and  her 
husband  have  lately  received.  And  even  there,  with 
her  own  relations,  she  speaks  of  the  miracle  that  has 
been  wrought  within  her  only  because  she  finds  they 
have  already  been  made  aware  of  it  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Here  is  an  example  to  people  who  no  sooner 
receive  a  dignity  or  honour,  or  achieve  a  success  of 
any  description,  than  they  must  proclaim  it  to  the 
world  ;  who  can  keep  nothing  to  themselves,  but  must 


1 6  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

live  in  the  glare  of  publicity  ;  and  who  are  so  inwardly 
self-absorbed  that  they  have  hardly  a  thought  left  for 
the  concerns  of  others. 

Such,  then — thoughtful  and  prudent,  modest,  self- 
restrained,  humble,  and  unselfish — is  this  Virgin,  of 
whom  I  repeat  that  we  can  never  be  her  clients  if  we 
are  not  also  her  followers.  St,  Gregory  Nazianzen 
has  a  beautiful  saying  :  that  "  every  man  is  the 
painter  and  sculptor  of  his  own  life  ".  May  all  those 
of  Mary's  sex  raise  to  her  honour  an  image  formed 
of  their  own  lives,  chiselled  by  themselves  in  her  like- 
ness !  They  may  do  this  by  forming  their  characters 
after  her  great  example ;  by  despising  the  vanities 
and  frivolities  of  the  world  ;  and  by  strictly  abjuring 
all  customs — no  matter  how  well  received  or  sanctioned 
by  society — that  may  be  in  the  slightest  degree  con- 
trary to  charity  or  modesty.  Mary  will  own  that  they 
truly  honour  her,  and  will  unceasingly  pray  for  them, 
when  she  sees  them  thus  anxious  to  please  her  Son ; 
and  they  will  please  her  Son  when  he  sees  them  like 
to  the  Mother  He  chose. 


17 


II. 

ON  THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.^ 
"  Fecit  mihi  magna  qui  potens  est." 

The  subject  of  the  Blessed  Virgin's  purity  in  her 
glorious  Conception,  which  the  Church  celebrates  and 
which  will  be  treated  of  in  all  Catholic  pulpits  to-day, 
has  for  a  long  time  exercised  the  greatest  minds  ;  and, 
of  the  many  subjects  that  have  to  be  expounded  to 
the  Faithful,  it  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  difficult.  I 
do  not  say  this  in  the  spirit  of  some  orators,  who  ex- 
aggerate the  poverty  of  their  matter  merely  to  exalt 
the  rhetoric  by  which  they  intend  to  adorn  it,  for  such 
a  course  would  be  utterly  unworthy  of  a  sacred  theme  ; 
but  because  it  is  necessary,  for  clearly  bringing  out  the 
real  beauty  and  truth  of  Mary's  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, to  begin  by  meeting  some  difficulties  connected 
with  the  belief 

The  consideration  of  that  terrible  sentence  pro- 
nounced by  the  Apostle  against  mankind  in  general  '^ — 
"  all  are  dead  :  all  have  sinned  :  by  the  offence  of 
one,  unto  all  men's  condemnation  "  ^ — is  alone  enough 

^  See  Note  p.  148,  which  forms  an  introduction  to  this  Sermon. 

2  2  Cor.  V.  14.  *  Rom.  v.  12,  16. 

2 


1 8  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

to  make  us  wonder  how  an  exception  can  be  found  to 
words  of  such  wide  application.  But  the  universality 
of  the  curse  is  made  still  more  plain  by  three  different 
expressions  used  in  Holy  Scripture  to  represent  the 
misfortune  of  our  birth. 

The  Bible  first  announces  a  supreme  law  which  it 
calls  "  the  law  of  death " :  a  verdict  of  guilt  pro- 
nounced indifferently  against  every  man  born  into  the 
world.     Who  can  be  exempt  from  this  ? 

Secondly,  it  tells  us  of  a  hidden  and  imperceptible 
venom,  whose  source  was  in  Adam,  and  which  infects 
each  of  his  descendants  terribly  and  inevitably.  This 
was  what  St.  Augustine  called  "  contagium  mortis  anti- 
quce,"  and  which  made  him  say  that  the  whole  mass  of 
the  human  race  is  contaminated.  What  preservative 
can  be  found  against  so  subtle  and  penetrating  a 
poison  ? 

In  the  third  place,  we  learn  from  Sacred  Writ  that 
all  who  breathe  this  infected  air  contract  a  stain  which 
dishonours  them,  and  destroys  the  image  of  God  in 
them  ;  and  which  thus  makes  them — as  St.  Paul  says 
— "  naturally  children  of  wrath  ".^  How  hinder  an  evil 
that  has  actually  become  part  of  our  nature  for  so  long  ? 

Such  questions  as  these  have  disturbed  the  minds 
of  some  great  thinkers — whose  opinions,  however,  the 
Church  does  not  condemn — by  making  it  appear  hard 
to  prove  Mary's  perfect  purity  in  her  conception.  It 
may  be  difficult,  but  I  think  we  shall  find  it  not  im- 

'  Ephes.  ii.  3. 


On  tJie  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.      19 

possible,  to  clear  up  doubts  as  to  this  great  privilege 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

It  is  quite  true  that  a  "  law  of  death "  exists,  to 
which  every  person  born  is  subject ;  but  extraordinary 
people  may  always  be  dispensed  from  the  most  uni- 
versal laws.  There  is  undoubtedly  an  insidious  and 
contagious  poison  that  has  infected  our  whole  race ; 
but  we  can  sometimes  escape  contagion  from  a  general 
epidemic  by  separating  ourselves.  We  freely  grant 
that  an  hereditary  stain  makes  us  natural  enemies  of 
God  ;  but  grace  may  anticipate  nature.  Hence,  the 
line  of  thought  to  be  followed,  if  we  would  prove  an 
exception,  is  this  :  that  we  must  find  dispensation 
opposed  to  Law ;  separation,  to  Contagion  ;  and  pre- 
vention, to  an  expected  natural  evil.  I  propose  to  show 
that  Mary  was  actually  dispensed  from  the  Law  in 
question,  by  that  supreme  A  uthority  which  was  so  often 
exerted  in  her  favour ;  that  she  was  separated  from 
universal  contagion  by  the  Wisdom  which  plainly  dis- 
closed Its  unsearchable  designs  upon  her,  from  before 
all  time,  by  thus  setting  her  apart ;  and  that  the 
Eternal  Love  of  God  so  prevented  her,  where  His 
anger  was  concerned,  as  to  make  her  an  object  of 
mercy  before  she  had  time  to  become  an  object  of 
wrath. 

If  we  can  understand  it  aright,  we  shall  find  that  in 
her  own  marvellous  Canticle  she  herself  announces 
all  this.^     "  He  that  is  mighty  hath  done  great  things 

1  Luke  i.  49. 


20  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

to  me."  She  speaks  first  of  power,  to  give  honour  to 
the  absolute  Authority  by  Whom  she  is  dispensed  : 
He  thai  is  mighty.  But  what  has  this  Almighty  One 
done?  "Ah!"  she  declares,  "great  things."  It  is 
clear  that  she  here  recognises  her  separation  from 
others  by  the  great  and  deep  designs  of  the  Wisdom 
that  has  called  her  apart.  And  what,  we  may  ask, 
could  possibly  bring  these  great  marvels  to  pass 
except  the  eternal  Love  of  God, — ever  active  and 
ever  fruitful, — without  Whose  intervention  Omni- 
potence itself  would  not  act,  whilst  Infinite  Wisdom 
would  keep  Its  thoughts  unexpressed  and  bring  forth 
nothing?  It  is  this  Love  that  does  all  things,  and 
which  consequently  "  has  done  great  things  to  me  "  : 
this  alone  makes  God  to  pour  Himself  forth  upon 
His  creatures  :  this  is  the  cause  of  all  existence,  the 
principle  of  all  bestowal  :  and  hence  it  was  this 
effectual  love  which,  in  working  Mary's  Conception, 
prevented  the  threatened  evil  by  sanctifying  her  from 
the  very  beginning. 

By  proving  these  three  points,  then,  I  shall  both 
fully  expound  the  text  chosen,  and  explain  and  justify 
the  high  honour  we  pay  to  Mary  in  her  most  blessed 
Conception. 

I. 

It  is  decidedly  a  question  whether,  if  it  is  the 
peculiar  attribute  of  supreme  authority  to  frame  laws 
for  whole  nations,  it  is  not  even  more  perfectly  char- 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     2 1 

acteristic  of  such  authority  to  reserve  for  itself  the 
right  of  dispensing  from  them  where  wisdom  requires 
it ;  because  the  latter  course,  being  extraordinary, 
seems  to  imply  a  higher  degree  of  power  and  more 
independence  than  the  former.  If  the  majesty  of  Law 
is  unequalled,  and  if  to  establish  laws  of  his  own  is 
the  highest  and  most  sacred  right  of  an  absolute 
sovereign — which  it  undoubtedly  is — then,  when  he 
makes  those  decrees  themselves  give  way  to  his 
authority  in  special  cases,  he  may  be  said  with  reason 
to  raise  himself  above  his  own  supremacy.  This  is  God's 
mode  of  action  when  He  works  miracles,  which  are 
simply  dispensations  of  things  from  the  ordinary  laws 
that  He  Himself  had  established  ;  and  which  he 
performs  to  make  his  omnipotence  more  manifest. 
Hence,  at  first  sight,  it  seems  clear  that  the  power  of 
dispensation,  or  exception,  is  the  most  certain  mark 
of  authority. 

On  the  other  hand,  equally  strong  arguments  are 
put  forward  in  favour  of  a  different  view.  It  is 
contended  that  because  exceptions  must  always  apply 
to  an  immensely  smaller  number  than  laws — or  they 
could  not  be  so  called — and  because  a  power  exercised 
over  numbers  is  surely  more  important  than  that 
exercised  over  a  few,  the  establishing  of  universal 
Law  is  much  the  more  absolutely  authoritative  work 
of  the  two.  Again,  it  is  urged  that  the  continuous 
enforcement  of  permanent  decrees  is  a  truer  sign  of 
supreme  power  than  the   putting  forth  of  occasional 


22  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

ones  to  counteract  them — even  though  the  latter  act 
be  in  itself  of  a  higher  nature  than  the  former. 

The  only  way  of  reconciling  these  differences  is  to 
grant  at  once  that  the  special  characteristics  of  the 
highest  authority  appear  equally  in  both  forms  of 
proceeding.  This  view  is  expressed  by  St.  Thomas 
when  he  says  that  all  Law  comprises  two  things  : — the 
general  commandment  and  the  particular  application  :. 
as,  for  example,  when  Ahasuerus  made  a  decree 
condemning  all  the  Jews  to  death,  but  excepted  Esther 
in  applying  that  decree.  In  this  rule  of  St.  Thomas's, 
then,  we  have  just  what  we  are  seeking  : — a  statement 
of  the  equal  greatness  of  the  two  acts  ;  for  the 
authority  of  law-giving  is  displayed  in  the  "  general 
commandment,"  and  that  of  dispensing  in  the  "  par- 
ticular application  "  ;  and  as  it  belongs  to  the  maker 
of  universal  rules  to  judge  of  their  suitability  to  special 
cases,  it  follows  that  the  power  of  framing  laws  and 
that  of  dispensing  from  them  are  equally  noble  and 
inseparable  attributes  of  a  Supreme  Ruler. 

These  principles  being  granted,  we  may  proceed 
with  our  subject.  I  am  told  that  there  is  a  Decree  of 
Death  pronounced  against  all  men,  and  that  to  make 
an  exception,  even  though  in  favour  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  herself,  would  be  to  violate  the  authority  of 
law.  But  according  to  the  rule  just  laid  down,  I  may 
reply  to  this  that,  the  Legislator's  power  having  two 
sides,  you  would  impugn  His  authority  no  less  by 
denying  His  power  to  dispense  with  the  application  in 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     23 

this  particular  case,  than  by  disputing  His  right  to 
promulgate  the  general  law  in  the  first  instance.  St. 
Paul  certainly  declares  in  formal  terms  that  "  all  are 
condemned " ;  but  this  need  not  disturb  us  ;  for  in 
fully  acknowledging  the  universal  extent  of  the  law,  he 
in  nowise  excludes  such  reservations  as  the  Sovereign 
may  choose  to  make.  By  the  authority  of  the  law, 
incontestably,  Mary  was  condemned  like  the  rest  of 
mankind ;  but  by  the  grace  of  special  reservations, 
made  for  her  by  the  Sovereign's  absolute  power,  she 
was  dispensed  from  having  the  decree  carried  out  in 
her  case. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  whole  strength  of  Law 
is  weakened  when  its  sacred  dignity  is  sacrificed  to  the 
granting  of  dispensations.  This  is  true,  unless  each 
dispensation  is  accompanied  with  three  things  : — that 
it  is  granted  only  to  an  eminent  person  ;  that  it  is 
founded  on  precedent ;  and  that  the  honour  of  the 
Lawgiver  is  concerned  in  it.  The  first  condition  is  due 
to  the  law  itself,  the  second  to  the  public,  and  the 
third  to  the  Ruler ;  and  without  them  an  exception 
cannot  justly  be  made.  But  where  these  conditions 
are  combined,  we  may  reasonably  expect  a  special 
favour.  Let  us  see  if  they  were  not  so  in  the  Holy 
Virgin. 

Where  exceptions  are  made, or  dispensations  granted, 
amongst  equals — even  though  they  be  equals  in  great- 
ness— one  may  justly  fear  for  the  consequences  of 
deviation  from  the  common  rule.     It  must,  however. 


24  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

be  at  once  apparent  that  there  can  be  no  question  of 
equality  with  any  one  where  Mary  is  concerned  ;  for  in 
her  case  there  is  not  only  eminence,  but  ^r^-eminence. 
Is  there  a  second  Mother  of  God?  Can  there  be  another 
Virgin-mother  to  whom  her  prerogatives  might  possibly 
be  extended  ?  There  can  surely  be  no  doubt  in  any 
minds  that  that  glorious  privilege  of  maternity,  through 
which  she  has  contracted  an  eternal  alliance  with  God, 
places  her  in  a  quite  peculiar  rank  that  can  suffer  no 
sort  of  comparison. 

From  this  very  fact  of  her  pre-eminence,  it  will  of 
course  be  difficult  to  find  a  precedent  for  her  exception 
from  the  law ;  and,  in  fact,  it  would  be  useless  to  seek 
for  such  in  any  other  Saint.  An  example  for  God's 
dealings  in  this  matter  can  actually  be  found  only  in 
Mary  herself;  and  the  observation  of  a  not  uncommon 
fact  in  all  history  will  here  help  us. 

It  is  very  frequently  the  case  that  when  Sovereigns 
have  once  begun  bestowing  favours  in  a  certain  direc- 
tion they  continue  to  bestow  them  there  with  ever- 
increasing  liberality :  benefits  seem  to  attract,  and 
make  precedents  for,  one  another  ;  so  that  in  a  quarter 
where  signal  marks  of  favour  have  already  been  found, 
one  may  reasonably  look  for  more.  This  principle  is 
acknowledged  by  God  Himself  in  the  Gospels,  when 
He  says  :  "  For  to  every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given"  ;^ 
which  means  that,  in  the  order  of  His  favours,  a  grace 
never  goes  alone,  but  is  the  pledge  of  many  others. 

^  Matt.  XXV.  29. 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgm.     ^5 

Now,  apply  this  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  Had  she  been 
subject  throughout  her  life  to  ordinary  rules  we  might 
easily  believe  her  also  "  conceived  in  iniquity,"  in  the 
same  manner  that  others  are.  But  when  we  find  her 
enjoying  a  general  dispensation  from  all  common  laws 
in  every  circumstance ;  when,  according  to  Catholic 
faith  and  the  teaching  of  the  most  approved  Doctors, 
we  see  her  not  suffering  in  Child-birth,  free  from  con- 
cupiscence, living  a  spotless  life,  and  dying  a  painless 
death ;  when  we  learn  that  her  reputed  husband  was 
but  her  guardian,  her  Son  being  the  miraculous  Child 
of  Virginity,  born  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
instead  of  by  the  ordinary  way  of  nature  : — in  short, 
when  we  find  Mary  singular  in  everything : — why  should 
we  expect  her  Conception  to  be  the  only  part  of  her 
life  that  was  not  supernatural  ?  It  is  much  more 
logical  to  judge  this  event  in  the  light  of  the  rest,  and 
to  believe  that  it  was  a  miracle  in  keeping  with  her 
whole  life. 

Thus,  the  two  first  conditions  of  a  satisfactory 
dispensation  —  the  superiority  of  the  person  con- 
cerned, and  the  existence  of  precedents  in  her  favour 
— are  clearly  shown  to  be  here  fulfilled.  I  hope 
further  to  show  that  the  third  condition  required  is 
also  present,  and  that  the  glory  of  the  King — Jesus 
Christ  Himself — is  manifestly  promoted  by  this  dis- 
pensation. 

It  has  been  finely  remarked  that  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances "  Princes  themselves  gain  what  they  give, 


26  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

when  their  gifts  are  such  as  do  them  honour 'V 
Now,  Our  Lord  certainly  honours  Himself  when  He 
honours  His  Mother ;  and  thus  it  may  be  truly  said 
that  He  gains  all  He  bestows  upon  her,  because  it  is 
certainly  grander  for  Him  to  give  than  for  her  to 
receive.  However,  a  yet  closer  reason  for  our  Divine 
Saviour's  action  in  this  matter  lies  in  the  fact  that, 
having  Himself /)m^  on  this  human  flesh,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  destroying  that  fatal  decree  which  we  have 
called  "  the  law  of  death,"  it  was — if  we  may  so  speak — 
only  becoming  to  His  own  greatness  to  leave  no  possible 
place  where  it  could  claim  to  hold  absolute  sway.  We 
must  follow  up  this  design,  and  see  what  victories  it 
has  won,  in  detail. 

This  law  of  spiritual  death  reigns  over  all  men,  and 
over  all  periods  of  each  man's  life.  When  we  incur 
its  penalties  at  an  advanced  age,  Jesus  Christ  defeats 
it  by  His  grace ;  the  new-born  infant  groans  under  its 
tyranny,  and  He  effaces  it  in  baptism  ;  it  condemns 
the  unborn  child  in  the  womb  of  his  mother,  so  Our 
Saviour  has  chosen  to  free  certain  illustrious  souls 
from  its  dominion  there,  by  sanctifying  them  before 
birth,  as  in  the  case  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,^  But 
this  terrible  law  goes  yet  farther  back  :  it  reigns  over 
the  very  beginnings  of  man  by  seizing  upon  him  the 
instant  he  is  conceived  [that  is,  animated].     Is  Jesus 

^  Alaric,  in  Cassiodorus,  Variar.,  lib.  viii.,  Epist.  xxiii. 
^  Also,  according   to  the  tradition  of  the  Church,  the   Prophet 
Jeremias. 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     27 

Christ,  the  all-powerful  conqueror,  to  be  defeated  in 
this  one  spot  alone?  Shall  His  sacred  Blood — the 
divine  remedy  that  delivers  us  from  all  evil — be  in- 
effectual to  prevent  it?  Surely  not.  Then,  shall 
Its  power  remain  for  ever  unused,  and  not  be  ex- 
erted on  any  of  Christ's  members  ?  No: — the  Saviour 
of  mankind  cannot  fail  to  choose  at  least  one  among 
His  creatures,  even  for  the  sake  of  His  own  glory,  in 
whom  to  show  forth  the  full  power  of  His  Precious 
Blood  : — and  what  specially  chosen  creature  should 
this  be  but  His  mother  ? 

There  is  another  aspect  of  the  question  which  must 
be  most  carefully  considered,  for  it  makes  us  feel  even 
more  strongly  that  to  doubt  Mary's  Immaculate  Con- 
ception would  be  almost  to  depreciate  the  value  of  the 
Blood  of  Christ.  This  most  sacred  stream,  we  must 
never  forget,  not  only  had  to  flow  over  Mary,  as  over 
the  whole  race,  to  redeem  her  ;  but  it  was  to  have  lU 
human  source  in  her  body.  This  is  a  wonderful  and 
overpowering  thought ;  but  it  is  absolutely  true,  or 
Christ  would  not  be  God  and  man  ;  and,  being  true, 
can  we  doubt  that  Our  Lord's  honour  requires  the  very 
channel  whence  He  was  to  receive  His  own  Blood  to 
be  purified  in  its  beginning  ?  But  to  bring  this  about 
Mary's  Son  must  hinder  the  law  of  death  from  taking 
effect  in  her,  at  the  first  moment  she  becomes  a  living 
person  : — that  is,  at  the  instant  of  her  conception. 
Thus  He  pays  due  honour  to  the  Life-giving  Stream 
Itself,  by  honouring  the  spot  whence  it  was  to  spring. 


28  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

We  must  not,  then,  look  for  Mary's  name  in  the 
catalogue  of  those  condemned  by  the  fatal  decree :  it 
has  been  blotted  out  simply  by  that  Divine  Blood 
drawn  from  her  own  chaste  veins,  and  applied  by  her 
Son — to  His  own  true  glory — with  fullest  efficacy 
for  her  benefit. 

The  three  conditions  are  thus  shown  to  be  complied 
with,  and  I  have  proved  my  first  point : — that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  was  justly  dispensed,  by  the  rightful 
authority,  from  suffering  under  the  general  condem- 
nation. 

Tertullian  has  said  that,  because  of  the  Supreme 
Majesty  of  God,  it  is  not  only  glorious  for  His  creatures 
to  consecrate  their  lives  to  His  service,  but  that  it  is 
even  right  for  them  to  offer  Him  "  the  submission  of 
flattery  "  :  Non  tantum  obsequi  ei  debeo,  sed  et  adulari :  ^ 
— in  other  words,  that  we  must  not  only  obey  His 
direct  commandments,  but  keep  every  movement  of 
our  being  so  completely  dependent  on  His  will  that 
we  are  ready  to  comply  with  the  smallest  sign  of  His 
pleasure.  What  Tertullian  says  of  God  Himself,  our 
common  Father,  I  would  say  of  His  Church,  Mother 
of  all  the  Faithful : — that  we  should  be  ready,  as  good 
Christians,  not  only  to  follow  her  precepts,  but  to 
respond  to  the  slightest  expression  of  her  desires. 
Now,  she  does  not  compel  our  obedience  by  placing 
belief  in  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  Mary  amongst 
her  Articles  of  Faith  which  we  must  accept  under  pain 

^  Tertull.,  de  yejun.,  n,  13. 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     29 

of  sin  ;  but  by  the  very  Feast  of  to-day  she  invites 
us  to  acknowledge  it.  Let  us,  then,  say  with  perfect 
and  fearless  confidence  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
conceived  without  spot ;  and,  in  so  doing,  honour  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  Mother  : — believing  that  He  wrought  a 
special  work  in  her  conception  because  she  was  chosen 
from  among  all  others  to  conceive  Him. 

2. 

It  is  the  very  fact  of  this  peculiar  relation  of 
Mother  and  Son  between  Mary  and  Christ — the  fact 
that  He  Himself  was  conceived  in  her  womb — which  is 
the  great  argument  for  our  second  point  to  be  proved : 
the  belief  that  His  Wisdom  separated  her  in  a  peculiar 
manner  from  the  universal  contagion  that  all  other 
souls  contract  when  united  to  "  flesh  of  sin  ".  And  I 
say  advisedly  "  in  a  peculiar  manner  "  :  for,  observe, 
all  who  are  saved  by  Baptism,  actual  or  of  desire — 
before  or  after  Christ's  coming — are  separated,  by  being 
freed  from  the  effects  of  the  taint  they  have  contracted, 
through  grace.  In  fact,  God  has  carried  out  this 
principle  of  "  separation  "  in  many  forms  from  the 
beginning  of  all  things  :  Holy  Writ  speaks  of  His 
"  separating "  one  part  of  the  universe  after  another 
from  the  first-formed  matter ;  and,  just  as  He  first 
divided  earth,  sea,  and  sky  from  the  shapeless  mass, 
so  He  now  parts  the  faithful  from  the  mass  of  criminal 
humanity  by  that  grace  which  is  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,   who  has  chosen  them  out  from  all  eternity. 


30  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

What  else  but  this  does  St.  Paul  mean,  when  he  speaks 
of"  Him,  who  separated  me  from  my  mother's  womb 
and  called  me  by  His  grace  ?  "  ^  Hence,  the/«d  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin's  separation  is  common  to  the  whole 
body  of  the  elect  ;  it  is  the  nature  of  it  that  is  peculiar 
to  herself,  on  account  of  the  cawic. 

We  may  take,  as  a  help  towards  considering  this 
mystery  in  detail,  some  beautiful  words  of  Eusebius, 
in  his  second  Homily  on  Our  Lord's  Nativity.  He 
says,  speaking  of  Mary's  bliss  in  having  conceived  her 
Saviour  :  "  Thou  hast  deserved  to  receive  jirst  Him 
whose  coming  was  promised  throughout  all  ages ;  and 
thou  alone  dost  possess  hy  a  peculiar  gift  the  joy  that 
is  common  to  all  men".^  If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  common 
possession — if  the  Mysteries  of  His  Life  were  wrought 
for  the  whole  world — in  what  way  could  the  Blessed 
Virgin  possess  Him  "  alone "  ?  His  death  was  a 
public  sacrifice.  His  Blood  the  price  of  all  sins,  His 
preaching  the  doctrine  for  all  nations  :  the  fact  that, 
directly  the  Divine  Infant  was  born,  the  Jews  were 
called  to  Him  by  angels  and  the  Gentiles  by  a  star, 
clearly  shows  that  He  belongs  to  the  entire  earth. 
The  whole  world  has  a  right  to  the  Son  of  God, 
because  God's  goodness  bestowed  Him  on  all.  Never- 
theless—  O  wondrous  dignity  of  Mary! — amid  this 
universal    ownership    she    has    a    peculiar    right  of 

1  Gal.  i.  15. 

'  Per  tot  ssecula  promissum,  prima  suscipere  mereris  adventum ; 
et  commune  mundi  gaudium,  peculiari  munere  sola  possides. 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,     31 

possessing  Him  alone,  because  she  can  claim  Him  as 
her  Son  : — a  title  which  no  other  creature  can  share. 
God  Himself  and  Mary,  only,  can  call  the  Saviour 
"  Son  "  ;  and  by  this  most  sacred  tie  Jesus  Christ  gives 
Himself  to  her  in  such  a  manner  that  the  general 
treasure  of  all  men  may  be  truly  called  her  particular 
property  :  sola  possides. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  however  glorious  such  a 
separation  may  be,  what  effect  will  it  have  in  sancti- 
fying her  conception  ?  To  answer  this  question  we 
must  show  that  Our  Saviour's  own  Conception  exerts 
a  secret  influence  over  that  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to 
which  it  imparts  grace  and  sanctity  ;  and  we  shall  do 
this  best  by  first  calling  to  mind  a  truth  full  of  comfort 
to  all  Christians  : — namely,  that  the  life  of  the  Saviour 
of  souls  has  a  particular  relation  to  every  part  of  our 
own  lives,  that  it  may  sanctify  them.  The  Apostle 
expresses  this  truth  when  he  says  :  "  Jesus  Christ  died 
and  rose  again,  that  He  might  be  Lord  both  of  the 
dead  and  the  living "}  Observe  the  relation  : — the 
Saviour's  life  sanctifies  ours  ;  our  death  is  consecrated 
by  His.  And  it  is  the  same  throughout :  He  clothed 
Himself  with  our  weakness,  which  strengthens  us  in 
infirmity — He  has  felt  our  troubles,  which  consoles  us 
in  affliction  and  makes  it  holy  and  profitable  to  us : 
in  short,  Christ  took  upon  Himself  all  that  we  are; 
and  there  is  a  secret  relation  between  Him  and  us 
which  causes  our  sanctification.     And  whence  comes 

^  Rom.  xiv.  9. 


32  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

this  marvellous  communication  between  His  states 
and  ours  ?  The  Apostle  would  reply  that  it  comes 
from  the  fact  that  the  Saviour,  dying  and  suffering, 
belongs  to  us  :  He  gives  us  His  death  and  His  sufferings ; 
and  in  them  we  find  graces  that  impart  sanctity  to 
our  own,  by  making  them  like  His.  All  Christians 
may  say  this  ;  but  there  is  one  relation  to  Him  which 
the  Blessed  Virgin  only  can  claim  : — she  alone  has  the 
right  to  say  "  The  Redeemer,  when  He  was  conceived 
as  man,  gave  Himself  to  me  by  a  peculiar  title,  and 
in  such  a  manner  that  His  conception  breathed 
sanctity  into  mine  by  its  secret  influence  ". 

This,  then,  is  the  argument  for  Mary's  being 
separated  from  the  universal  taint  in  her  conception  : — 
that  she  was  chosen  to  be  the  parent  of  God  made 
man ;  that  He  was  given  to  her  by  the  Heavenly 
Father,  to  conceive,  and  to  bear  within  her  sacred 
womb  ;  and  that  whilst  she  thus  bore  Him — though 
for  the  rest  of  His  life  He  was  to  belong  equally  to 
all  men — she  had  a  right  of  peculiar  possession,  as 
the  Mother  who  had  conceived  Him:  " peculiari 
munere  sola  possides  ".  Hence,  it  was  surely  just  that 
Our  Lord  should  do  something  singular  for  her  who 
had  been  set  apart  by  Divine  wisdom  to  bear  this 
singular  relation  to  Him  : — that  the  office  for  which 
she  was  destined  should  draw  down  a  peculiar  bless- 
ing of  sanctification  on  her  own  conception  ?  We 
must,  then,  acknowledge  Mary  as  separated  by  an 
extraordinary  operation  of  the  Son  of  God.     Divine 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin^    33 

Wisdom  Itself  ordained  the  separation,  because  of  the 
peculiar  tie  between  her  and  her  Son  which  made  it 
just  for  her  to  share  His  privileges. 

We  see,  further,  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  her  sepa- 
rateness  has  something  in  common  with  all  men  and 
something  peculiar  to  herself:  for,  as  was  said  above, 
we  are  all  separated  from  the  mass  by  belonging  to 
Christ.  But  Our  Lord  has  a  double  tie  with  Mary  : — 
one  as  Saviour,  in  common  with  the  whole  race ; 
the  other  as  Son,  by  which  He  belongs  only  to  her. 
By  the  first  tie,  she  is  bound  to  be  parted  from  the 
mass  like  all  other  men  ;  by  the  second,  she  is  bound 
to  be  set  apart  from  it  in  an  extraordinary  manner. 
In  this  work,  we  behold  the  Divine  Wisdom  once 
more  bringing  order  out  of  confusion  as  formerly  in 
the  case  of  the  elements.  Here  is  a  mass  of  criminal 
humanity,  from  which  a  creature  has  to  be  separated 
in  order  to  be  made  mother  of  her  Creator.  Jesus 
Christ  is  her  Saviour : — hence  she  must  be  separated 
in  the  same  way  as  others  ;  but  Jesus  Christ  is  also 
her  Son,  and  therefore  she  must  be  separated  from 
others  : — if  others  are  delivered  from  evil,  she  must  be 
preserved  from  it,  so  that  its  very  course  may  be  hin- 
dered. How  can  this  be,  except  by  some  more  special 
communication  of  her  Son's  privileges  ?  He  is  exempt 
from  sin  : — Mary  must  be  exempt  also.  Thus  Wisdom 
has  separated  her  from  others  ;  but  still  she  must  not 
be  confounded  with  her  Son,  since  she  is  of  necessity 
infinitely  beneath  Him.     How,  then,  are  we  to  distin- 

3 


34  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

guish  between  them  ?  In  this  way : — Jesus  Christ  is 
exempt  from  sin  by  nature,  Mary  by  grace  ;  Jesus 
Christ  by  right,  Mary  by  privilege  and  indulgence. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  she  may  say  of  her  separation 
"  He  that  is  mighty  hath  done  great  things  to  me  "  ; 
and  we  may  now  go  on  to  see  how  grace  iilled  her  so 
completely  that  the  anger  which  threatens  every  child 
of  Adam  could  not  influence  her  conception,  because 
it  was  forestalled  by  merciful  love. 

3. 

If  Holy  Scripture  tells  us  that  the  Son  of  God, 
in  taking  our  flesh,  also  took  upon  Him  all  our  in- 
firmities, sin  alone  excepted  ;  if  the  plan  that  He  had 
formed  of  making  Himself  like  unto  us  caused  Him 
not  to  disdain  hunger,  or  thirst,  or  fear,  or  sadness,  or 
a  thousand  other  weaknesses  that  seem  unworthy  of 
His  dignity : — then  still  more  must  we  believe  that 
He  was  deeply  imbued  with  that  just  and  holy  love, 
impressed  upon  us  by  nature  itself,  for  those  to  whom 
we  owe  life.  This  truth  is,  indeed,  evident ;  but  I 
wish  to  show  here  that  it  was  that  special  love  which 
prevented  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  her  happy  conception — 
and  I  will  explain  my  meaning  fully. 

I  shall  consider  the  filial  love  that  Our  Saviour 
bore  to  Mary  under  two  conditions : — namely,  in  the 
Incarnation,  and  before  the  Incarnation,  of  the  Divine 
Word.  No  Christian  can  find  it  hard  to  believe  that 
it  existed  in  the  Incarnation,  for  as  it  was  by  this 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     35 

fact  that  Mary  became  the  Mother  of  God,  it  was 
also  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  august  mystery 
that  God  acquired  the  feelings  of  a  Son  for  Mary. 
But  it  is  not  so  easy  to  understand  how  filial  love  for 
His  holy  Mother  can  have  been  found  in  God  before 
He  became  incarnate,  as  the  Son  of  God  is  her  Child 
only  on  account  of  the  humanity  He  took  upon  Him. 
Nevertheless,  if  we  look  farther  back  we  shall  discover 
that  love  which  "prevented"  Mary  by  the  profusion 
of  its  gifts,  already  existing ;  and  the  understanding 
of  this  truth  will  prove  the  love  of  God  for  our  nature. 
There  are  three  things  that  distinguish  the  Blessed 
Virgin  from  all  mothers  : — she  gave  birth  to  the 
Bestower  of  grace  ;  her  Son — differing  in  this  from  all 
others — could  put  forth  His  full  powers  from  the  first 
moment  of  His  life  ;  and,  which  is  most  wonderful  of  all, 
she  was  the  mother  of  a  Son  Who  existed  before  her. 
These  three  facts  produce  three  magnificent  effects  in 
Mary.  As  her  Son  is  the  Bestower  of  grace  He  gives 
her  a  very  large  share  of  it ;  as  He  is  able  to  act  from 
the  moment  of  His  birth.  He  need  not  delay  His 
liberality  towards  her,  but  begins  to  shower  His  gifts 
the  instant  she  has  conceived  Him  ;  lastly,  having  a 
Son  Whose  Being  preceded  hers,  she  is  so  miraculously 
placed  that  the  love  of  that  Son  can  go  before  her 
even  in  her  own  conception,  and  make  that  event 
innocent :  it  was  indeed  her  right  that  such  a  Son 
should  so  benefit  her. 

This  truth  is  made  still  clearer  through  a  doctrine 


36  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

held  by  some  of  the  Fathers  about  the  way  in  which 
the  Son  of  God  has  loved  the  Blessed  Virgin  from 
eternity.  They  have  drawn  the  doctrine  from  some- 
thing that  we  must  have  often  wondered  at  ourselves  : — 
from  the  way  in  which  God,  throughout  Holy  Scripture, 
appears  to  delight — if  we  may  say  so — in  behaving  as 
man  :  how  He  actually  copies  our  actions,  our  manners 
and  customs,  our  feelings  and  our  passions.  Now  He 
will  say,  by  the  mouth  of  His  prophets,  that  His  Heart 
is  seized  with  compassion ;  then,  again,  that  it  is 
inflamed  with  anger : — that  He  is  appeased,  that  He 
"  repents  Him,"  that  He  is  glad  or  sorrowful.  What 
means  this  mystery?  Does  it  become  a  God  to  act 
thus  ?  For  the  Incarnate  Word  to  speak  in  this  fashion 
seems  natural,  for  He  was  man ;  but  for  God,  before 
He  was  man,  to  act  and  speak  as  men  do  seems  truly 
strange.  It  may  be  reasonably  suggested  that  He 
does  it  to  bring  His  Sovereign  Majesty  within  our 
reach ;  but  the  Fathers  find  a  more  mysterious  reason 
for  it.  They  tell  us  that  God,  having  once  resolved 
to  unite  Himself  to  our  nature,  judged  it  not  beneath 
Him  to  adopt  all  its  feelings  beforehand  : — nay,  that 
He  made  them  His  own,  and  might  even  be  said  to 
have  studied  how  to  conform  Himself  to  them. 

If  it  is  not  irreverent  to  illustrate  so  great  a  mystery 
by  a  familiar  example,  I  would  suggest  a  parallel  in 
the  ordinary  conduct  of  a  man  who  is  expecting  a  civil 
or  military  appointment.  He  has  not  got  it ;  but  he 
prepares  for  it  by  adopting  in  advance  all  the  habits  of 


On  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     37 

mind  that  are  proper  to  it ;  and  he  tries  in  good  time 
to  acquire  either  the  gravity  of  a  judge  or  the  generous 
courage  of  a  soldier.  God  has  determined  to  become 
man  :  He  has  not  done  so  in  the  days  of  the  Prophets, 
but  it  is  certain  that  He  will.  Hence,  we  are  not  to 
wonder  if  He  takes  pleasure  in  appearing  to  the 
Patriarchs  and  Seers  in  human  guise,  by  speaking  and 
acting  like  a  man  before  He  has  become  one.  And 
why  ?  Tertullian  answers  admirably  : — to  prepare  for 
the  Incarnation.  He  Who  is  to  stoop  so  low  as  to 
assume  our  nature,  is  serving  (with  all  reverence  be 
it  spoken)  His  apprenticeship,  by  conforming  to  our 
ways.  "  He  accustoms  Himself  little  by  little  to  being 
man ;  and  learns  from  the  beginning  what  He  is  to  be 
in  the  end."  ^ 

Let  none,  then,  think  that  God  awaited  His  coming 
on  earth  to  have  a  filial  love  for  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
That  He  had  resolved  to  become  man  was  enough  to 
make  him  adopt  a  man's  feelings  ;  and  if  He  took 
those  upon  Him,  would  He  be  likely  to  forget  the 
feelings  of  a  Son — the  most  natural  and  human  of 
them  all  ?  Hence  He  has  always  loved  Mary  as  His 
Mother,  and  looked  upon  her  as  such  from  the  first 
moment  she  was  conceived  :  could  He,  therefore,  look 
upon  her  with  anger?  Would  sin  in  her  be  consistent 
with  so  many  graces,  vengeance  with  love,  enmity  with 
union  ?     Sin,  it  is  true,  has  raised  a  wall  of  separation 

*  "  Ediscens  jam  inde  a  primordio,  jam  inde  hominem,  quod  erat 
fiituius  in  fine." — Lib.  ii.,  adv.  Marcion,  n.  27, 


38         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

between  God  and  man — has  established  a  natural 
enmity ;  but  may  not  Mary  say  with  the  Psalmist : 
In  Deo  meo  transgrediar  murum  ?  ^  Yes  :  she  will  not 
be  shut  off  by  a  barrier — she  will  pass  over  the  wall — 
and  how  ?  "  In  the  name  of  my  God  : — of  that  God  Who, 
being  my  Son,  is  mine  by  a  peculiar  right :  that  God 
Who  has  loved  me  as  His  mother  from  the  first  moment 
of  my  life  :  that  God  Whose  all-powerful  Sind  prevenient 
Love  has  turned  aside  the  wrath  that  threatens  every 
child  of  Eve." 

Such  is  the  work  that  has  been  wrought  in  the 
Blessed  Virgin  ;  and  we  may,  therefore,  safely  cry  : 
"  O  Mary,  miraculously  dispensed,  peculiarly  separated, 
mercifully  prevented,  help  our  weakness  by  thy  prayers, 
and  obtain  for  us  sinners  this  grace  : — that  we  may  so 
forestall  by  penance  the  punishment  due  to  our  sins, 
as  to  be  at  last  received  into  the  Kingdom  of  eternal 
peace,  with  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ". 

^  Ps.  xvi.  32. 


39 


III. 

MARY  A  FORESHADOWING  OF  CHRIST. 

{Preached  on  a  Feast  of  Mary's  Nativity.) 

"  Nox  praecessit,  dies  autem  appropinquavit  "  (Rom.  xiii.  12). 

Art  and  nature  alike  produce  their  works  gradually, 
and  God  Himself  does  the  same.  The  pencil  precedes 
the  brush  ;  the  architect's  design  maps  out  the  build- 
ing to  come  : — there  is  no  chef  d'ceuvre  accomplished 
in  the  world  but  goes  through  its  preliminary  stages  ; 
whilst  nature,  in  the  development  of  her  designs,  often 
tries  her  'prentice  hand  in  ways  that  seem  almost  like 
play. 

The  work  in  which  our  Maker  most  remarkably 
follows  the  same  plan  is  that  of  the  Incarnation,  for  the 
sake  of  which  He  declared  that  He  would  "  move  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  "  ^ : — this  being  His  One  Work 
above  all  others.  Although  its  fulfilment  was  not  to 
be  till  "  the  middle  of  years,"  ^  He  nevertheless  began 
it  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  The  natural  and 
the   written  Law — ceremonies  and  sacrifices — priest- 

^  Agg.  ii.  7.  ^  Habac.  iii.  2. 


40         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

hood  and  prophets — were  all,  speaking  reverently, 
merely  sketches  or  outlines  of  the  "  perfect  Man,  Christ 
Jesus  ".  They  are  called  by  an  ancient  writer  Christi 
rudimenta ;  and  the  grand  work  itself  was  reached 
only  through  a  succession  of  images  and  figures  that 
served  as  preparatory  designs.  But  when  the  time 
comes  close  for  the  Mystery,  God  plans  something 
yet  more  excellent  than  these  : — He  forms  the  blessed 
Mary,  that  He  may  represent  Jesus  Christ  to  us  more 
naturally  than  before.  He  is  about  to  send  Him  on 
earth,  and  so  combines  all  His  most  beautiful  char- 
acteristics in  the  person  of  her  who  is  to  be  His 
mother. 

Tertullian,^  contemplating  and  discussing  the  mar- 
vellous interest  that  God  displayed  in  the  act  of 
forming  man  from  "  the  slime  of  the  earth,"  seeks  for 
some  explanation  of  the  immense  pains  that  He 
bestowed  on  the  work.  He  declares  himself  unable 
to  believe  that  He  put  forth  so  much  power,  to  mould 
so  base  a  material,  without  some  further  great  end  in 
view :  and  this  end,  he  finally  concludes,  is  nothing 
less  than  Jesus  Christ,  Who  is  to  be  born  of  the  race 
of  man,  and  Whom  God,  therefore,  chooses  to  typify 
to  us  by  His  manner  of  forming  the  first  members  of 
that  race.  Quodcunique  limus  exprimebatur,  Christus 
cogitabatur  homo  futurus. 

If  this  idea  is  true  : — if  God,  when  He  created  the 
first   Adam,  meant  to   trace   out  the  second  ;  if  He 

^  De  Resur.  cam.,  n.  6, 


Mary  a  Foreshadowing  of  Christ.        41 

formed  our  first  father  so  carefully  with  Jesus  our 
Saviour  in  view,  and  because  His  Divine  Son  was  to 
spring  from  him  after  many  generations  : — surely  to- 
day, when  we  see  Mary — who  was  to  bear  Christ 
within  her  womb — come  into  the  world,  we  may 
conclude  that  in  creating  her  God  was  thinking  of 
our  Lord  and  working  for  Him  alone  ?  Hence  there 
is  no  cause  for  surprise  either  in  His  having  formed 
her  so  carefully  or  in  His  endowing  her  with  so  many 
graces  as  He  did  :  for  to  make  her  worthy  of  His 
Son  He  models  her  upon  that  Son  Himself  Intend- 
ing soon  to  bestow  on  us  His  Word  Incarnate,  on  the 
day  of  Mary's  nativity  He  gives  us  an  outline — I 
might  almost  say  a  beginning — of  Jesus  Christ,  in  one 
who,  though  a  creature,  is  in  some  sort  a  living  ex- 
pression of  His  own  perfections.  Thus  we  may  truly 
apply  to  such  a  day  the  Apostle's  beautiful  words  : 
"  The  night  has  passed  and  the  day  is  at  hand  ". 

The  Redeemer  of  mankind,  besides  being  in  Him- 
self an  inexhaustible  Fount  of  Love,  must  necessarily 
possess  the  two  qualities  of  exemption  from  sin  and 
fulness  of  grace.  He  must  be  innocent  to  purify  us 
from  our  crimes,  and  full  of  grace  to  enrich  our 
poverty  ;  for  these  qualities  are  inseparable  from  the 
character  and  office  of  the  Saviour.  When  God  formed 
the  Blessed  Virgin  on  the  pattern  of  the  Sun  of 
Justice,  some  of  the  rays  by  which  He  was  to  dispel 
our  darkness  were  permitted  to  shine  forth  in  her, 
though  only  in  a  degree  that  faintly  foreshadowed 


42         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

the  brilliant  light  they  were  to  shed  over  the  world 
when  they  should  stream  in  their  fulness  from  Jesus 
Christ  Himself;  and  hence  it  came  that  she  was 
endowed  with  the  very  qualities  that  were  to  form 
an  intrinsic  part  of  Her  Divine  Son's  human  nature, 
especially  with  these  two  of  innocence  and  fulness  of 
grace.  We  are  here  to  consider  shortly  both  the 
cause  and  the  manner  of  Mary's  likeness  to  her  Son 
in  these  particular  points  : — and,  first,  the  special  re- 
lation of  her  innocence  to  His. 

In  the  whole  teaching  of  the  Gospels  there  is 
nothing  more  touching  than  God's  gentle  and  loving 
way  of  treating  His  reconciled  enemies  :  that  is, 
converted  sinners.  He  is  not  satisfied  with  blotting 
out  our  stains  and  washing  away  our  filth  :  to  His 
infinite  goodness  it  is  but  a  little  thing  that  our  sins 
should  do  us  no  harm  : — He  would  have  them  actually 
profit  us.  He  draws  out  of  them  such  benefits  for 
our  soul  that  we  even  feel  constrained  to  bless  our 
very  transgressions,  and  to  cry  with  the  Church  :  O 
Felix  culpa  /^  His  grace  seems  to  struggle  with  our 
sins  for  the  upper  hand  ;  and  St.  Paul  says  that  it 
even  pleases  Him  to  make  grace  abound  more  where 
sin  has  abounded.^  In  fact,  He  receives  penitent 
sinners  back  with  so  much  love  that  innocence  itself 
might  almost  be  said  to  have  cause  for  complaint — or 
at  least  for  some  jealousy — at  the  sight  of  it.     The 

1  Blessing  of  the  Paschal  Candle  on  Holy  Saturday. 
^  Rom,  V,  20, 


Mary  a  Foreshadowing  of  Christ.       43 

extreme  gentleness  with  which  He  treats  them,  if 
their  regret  for  sin  be  but  real,  appears  to  do  away 
with  all  further  need  for  regret.  Let  but  one  sheep 
stray  from  His  side,  and  it  seems  to  become  dearer 
to  Him  than  all  the  others  who  remained  constant ; 
like  the  father  in  the  parable,  His  heart  melts  over 
His  returned  prodigal  rather  than  over  the  elder, 
faithful  brother. 

We  seem,  indeed,  at  first  sight  to  have  ground  for 
saying  that  the  penitent  sinner  has  the  advantage 
over  the  just  who  have  not  sinned  : — that  restored 
virtue  may  triumph  over  innocence  preserved  ;  never- 
theless, it  is  not  so.  We  may  never  doubt  that 
innocence  is  a  privileged  state  ;  and  if  there  were  no 
other  reason  for  maintaining  this  it  would  be  enough 
to  remember  that  Jesus  Christ  chose  that  state  for 
Himself.  Observe  the  terms  in  which  the  great 
Apostle  declares  His  Divine  Master's  innocence :  ^ 
Talh  deccbat  ut  esset  nobis  pontifex  :  "It  was  fitting 
that  we  should  have  a  high  priest,  holy,  innocent, 
undefiled,  separated  from  sinners,  and  made  higher 
than  the  heavens  :  Who  needeth  not  to  offer  sacrifices 
for  His  own  sins  " — but,  being  holiness  itself,  expiates 
sin.  Must  not  the  Son  of  God,  then,  have  dearly 
loved  the  innocence  that  He  took  for  His  own  lot  ? 
No :  His  tender  feelings  for  converted  sinners  does 
not  place  them  above  holy  souls  that  have  never  been 
stained  by  sin.     Only,  just  as  we  feel  the  blessing  of 

1  Hebr.  vii.  26, 


44         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

health  most  keenly  on  recovering  from  a  long  illness, 
though  we  would  far  rather  have  been  spared  the 
illness  and  kept  our  strength  unbroken  ;  or,  again, 
as  a  lovely  mild  day  in  the  midst  of  a  hard  winter  is 
peculiarly  enjoyed  from  its  unexpectedness,  yet  is  by 
no  means  so  pleasureable  as  a  long  mild  season  would 
have  been : — so,  humanly  speaking,  we  may  under- 
stand how  Our  Lord  lavishes  tenderness  on  freshly 
converted  sinners,  who  are  His  latest  conquest  ;  yet 
nevertheless  has  a  more  ardent  love  for  His  early 
friends,  the  Just.  We  may,  indeed — to  go  higher  for 
an  explanation — describe  His  whole  attitude,  as  re- 
gards the  "one  sinner  that  repenteth"  and  the  "  ninety- 
nine  just,"  very  shortly  and  simply  by  keeping  in 
mind  His  twofold  nature,  which  causes  Him  to  feel 
differently  as  Son  of  God  and  as  Saviour  of  men. 

Though  Jesus  Christ,  as  Son  of  God,  may  take 
pleasure  in  seeing  at  His  feet  a  sinner  who  has  returned 
to  the  right  path,  yet,  being  Himself  essential  Sanctity 
He  must  love  the  innocence  that  has  never  strayed 
with  a  stronger  love  ;  for  as  it  is  nearer  to,  and  more 
perfectly  imitates,  His  own  infinite  holiness.  He  can- 
not help  honouring  it  by  closer  familiarity.  What- 
ever favour  the  tears  of  a  penitent  may  find  in  His 
eyes,  they  can  never  equal  the  pure  charm  of  a  holi- 
ness ever-faithful  to  Him.  But  when  God  becomes 
man  to  save  us  from  our  sins  He,  as  our  Saviour, 
comes  to  seek  the  guilty :  for  them  He  lives,  because 
to  them  He  was  sent. 


Mary  a  Foreshadowing  of  Christ.       45 

How  does  He  Himself  describe  the  object  of  His 
mission?  "/  came,  not  to  seek  the  Just,"  ^  that  is  to 
say :  "Though  they  may  be  the  most  noble  and  worthy 
of  My  friendship,  My  commission  does  not  extend 
to  them.  As  Saviour,  I  am  to  seek  the  lost ; 
as  Physician,  the  sick  ;  as  Redeemer,  those  who  are 
captive."  Hence  it  is  that  He  loves  only  the  society 
of  such  as  these — because  to  them  alone  He  was  sent 
into  the  world.  The  angels,  who  never  fell,  may  ap- 
proach Him  as  Son  of  God : — that  is  the  prerogative 
of  innocence  ;  but,  in  His  quality  of  Saviour,  He  gives 
the  preference  to  sinners  ;  just  as  a  doctor  who,  as  a 
man,  will  prefer  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  healthy, 
would  nevertheless,  as  a  physician,  rather  tend  the 
sick.  Here  is  an  evangelical  interpretation  of  the 
whole  mystery  which  is  full  of  comfort  for  sinners  like 
us.  At  the  same  time,  however,  it  tells  strongly  in 
favour  of  Mary's  perpetual  purity  ;  for  if  the  Son  of 
God  loves  innocence  so  intensely,  could  it  be  that  He 
should  find  none  on  earth  ?  Of  course  He  has  it 
Himself  in  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  ;  but  shall 
He  not  have  the  satisfaction  of  finding  here  below 
something  like  Himself,  or  at  least  slightly  approach- 
ing His  own  spotlessness  ?  We  cannot  believe  that 
He  should  have  to  live  entirely  among  sinners  without 
the  consolation  of  intercourse  with  one  spotless  soul, 
and  who  should  this  be  but  His  mother?  If  He 
must  spend  His  life  in  seeking  sinners  throughout  the 

^  Matt.  ix.  13, 


46         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

whole  range  of  Palestine,  and  find  criminals  wherever 
He  turns  outside  His  home,  surely  just  within  it  He 
may  find  wherewith  to  feast  His  soul  on  the  lasting 
beauty  of  unsullied  holiness  ? 

True : — Our  Lord  not  only  never  shows  contempt 
for  sinners  by  banishing  them  from  His  presence,  but 
actually  calls  them  to  the  highest  offices  in  His  king- 
dom. He  entrusts  the  charge  of  His  flock  to  a  Peter 
who  has  denied  Him  ;  He  puts  the  publican  Matthew 
at  the  head  of  the  Evangelists  ;  and  makes  Paul,  the 
chief  of  persecutors,  into  the  first  of  preachers  : — not 
the  just  and  innocent,  but  the  converted  sinners,  have 
the  first  places.  Nevertheless,  He  does  not  take  His 
holy  mother  from  among  their  ranks  :  between  her  and 
others  there  must  be  a  difference  of  a  special  kind, 
and  to  which  careful  attention  must  be  paid  ;  for  it  is 
an  essential  and  fundamental  part  of  the  subject  I  am 
treating. 

Christ  chose  the  former — the  penitent  sinners  whom 
He  put  in  high  places — for  others ;  and  He  chose  Mary 
for  Himself.  For  others  :  "  All  things  are  yours, 
whether  it  be  Paul,  or  Apollo,  or  Cephas  ".^  Mary 
for  Himself:  "  Mjy  beloved  to  me,  and  I  to  Him^ : 
He  is  my  Only  One  and  I  am  His  only  one ;  He  is 
my  Son,  and  I  am  His  mother".  He  drew  those 
whom  He  chose  for  others  from  the  ranks  of  sinners 
that  they  might  the  better  announce  His  mercy  and 
the  remission  of  sins.     His  whole  design  was  to  restore 

*  I  Cor.  iii.  22.  2  2  Cant.  ii.  16. 


Mary  a  Foreshadowing  of  Christ.        47 

confidence  in  souls  that  were  cast  down  by  guilt ;  and 
who  could  better  preach  divine  mercy  than  those  who 
themselves  furnished  striking  examples  of  it  ?  Who 
could  say  with  greater  effect  that  it  was  "  a  faithful 
saying  .  .  .  that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  this  world  to 
save  sinners,"  than  a  St.  Paul  who  could  add  "  of  whom 
I  am  the  chief"  ?  ^  It  was  just  as  if  he  had  said  to  the 
sinner  whom  he  wanted  to  win  :  "  Fear  not ;  I  know 
the  hand  of  the  physician  I  would  send  you  to.  He 
Himself  has  sent  me  to  tell  you  how  He  cured  me  : — 
how  easily — how  tenderly ;  and  to  promise  you  the 
same  happiness " : — as  St.  Augustine  said  in  after 
years. ^  It  was,  then,  a  truly  wise  means  of  drawing 
sinners  to  God  to  have  His  mercy  proclaimed  to  them 
by  men  who  had  so  deeply  experienced  it.  St.  Paul 
teaches  this  plainly :  "  For  this  cause,"  he  says,  "  I 
have  obtained  mercy  ;  that  in  me  first  Jesus  Christ 
shall  show  forth  all  patience,  for  the  information  of 
them  that  shall  believe  unto  life  everlasting  "?  Thus 
we  see  why  God  honours  reconciled  sinners  with  the 
first  offices  in  the  Church  : — for  the  instruction  of  the 
Faithful. 

But  if  this  was  the  course  He  pursued  with  those 
whom  He  appointed  for  the  good  of  others,  it  was  not 
His  mode  of  proceeding  where  the  extraordinary, 
privileged,  and  cherished  being  was  concerned  whom 
He  created  for  Himself  only :    with  her  whom   He 

^  I  Tim.  i.  15.  2  Serm.  clxxvi.,  n,  4,  torn,  v.,  col.  841. 

^  I  Tim.  i.  16. 


48  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

chose  for  His  Mother.  In  her  case  He  did — not,  as 
whea  He  chose  His  Apostles  and  Ministers,  what  was 
profitable  to  the  salvation  of  all — but  what  was  most 
sweet  and  satisfying  to  Him,  and  most  for  His  own 
glory.  She  was  to  possess  none  but  Him  for  her 
own,  and  He  none  but  her,  and  therefore  He  would 
have  her  innocent  from  the  beginning.  The  gift  of 
perfect  innocence,  of  course,  may  not  be  too  freely 
lavished  on  our  corrupt  nature  ;  but  for  God  to  bestow 
it  on  His  own  Mother  alone  cannot  be  called  lavish  ; 
whilst  to  refuse  it  even  to  her  would  be  restricting  it 
too  far. 

We  may,  then,  I  repeat,  consider  that  with  Mary's 
birth  a  preliminary  ray  of  the  full  light  of  Christ  is  shed 
on  the  world  :  as  St.  Peter  Damian  beautifully  puts  it : 
Nata  Virgine  surrexit  Aurora}  But,  perfectly  as  her 
innocence  foreshadows  His,  we  are  not  to  suppose 
that  it  puts  her  on  a  par  with  Him  ;  for  it  belongs  to 
Jesus  by  right,  to  Mary  only  by  privilege  ;  to  Jesus 
by  nature,  to  Mary  only  by  giace  and  indulgence  ;  in 
Jesus  we  honour  the  very  source  of  all  innocence,  in 
Mary  only  a  stream  from  that  source.  Mary's  inno- 
cence, in  short,  is  but  the  outflowing  on  to  a  specially 
chosen  creature,  of  Christ's  own  freedom  from  sin :  and 
her  spotlessness  possesses  a  quality  in  which  it  differs 
from  the  purity  of  other  innocent  creatures,  which  is 
peculiarly  comforting  and  encouraging  to  us.  Inno- 
cence of  life  in  ordinary  human  beings  is  rather  apt  to 

^  Sermon  xi.  (in  Assumpt.  B.  Mar.  Virg.). 


Mary  a  Foreshadowing  of  Christ.       49 

be  a  reproach  to  those  of  bad  life,  and  to  have  a 
repelling  effect  on  the  guilty  by  seeming  to  condemn 
them.  In  Mary,  however,  the  Divine  Innocence  from 
which  hers  is  derived  shines  forth  with  its  own 
character  :  and  that  character  does  not  consist  in  a 
purity  that  seems  to  judge  or  reproach  criminals,  but 
in  one  that  exists  only  to  be  their  life  and  salvation. 
Hence  this  holy  and  innocent  creature  never  repels 
or  discourages  us  by  the  sight  of  her  faultlessness,  as 
she  uses  it  only  to  raise  and  win  pardon  for  us  ;  whilst 
by  the  shining  light  of  her  purity  we  may  see  to 
cleanse  away  our  own  offences. 

Then,  having  done  this,  we  may  become  spiritually 
rich  by  filling  our  emptiness  at  the  fountain  of  those 
innumerable  graces,  the  possession  of  which — as  I 
said  above — constitutes  the  second  special  likeness  of 
Mary  to  her  Son.  To  treat  adequately  of  these  graces 
is,  however,  more  difficult  than  to  discuss  her  inno- 
cence ;  for  the  mere  recollection  of  her  dignity 
as  Mother  of  God  makes  it  easy  to  realise  her 
exemption  from  sin.  But  when  it  comes  to  setting 
forth  the  fulness  of  her  graces,  the  mere  thought  of 
their  number  is  overpowering,  and  one  knows  not 
where  to  begin.  What  I  propose,  therefore,  is  to 
indicate  what  their  extent  must  be  by  considering 
the  principle  whence  they  all  sprang,  rather  than  to 
attempt  describing  them  individually. 

This  principle,  of  course,  is  the  same  as  that  of  every 
grace  and  virtue  that  has  adorned  the  whole  human 

4 


50         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

race  from  the  beginning :  the  fact  of  Jesus  Christ's 
union  with  mankind.  But  His  union  with  His  Mother 
is  so  much  closer  than  with  any  other  creature  that  it 
must  naturally  result  in  her  'being  much  more  richly 
endowed  with  grace  than  any  one  else  :  indeed,  we 
can  hardly  place  any  limit  to  the  endowments  that 
such  a  bond  as  hers  with  her  Son  would  entitle  her 
to.  Had  this  bond  been  only  such  a  one  as  ordinary 
mothers  have  with  their  children  it  must  have  brought 
her  innumerable  gifts  from  God ;  but  we  must  re- 
member what  is  too  often  overlooked,  that  the  tie 
between  Mary  and  Christ  was  something  beyond  that 
of  mere  parent  and  child,  in  two  ways. 

First,  it  was  a  spiritual  tie  ;  for  Mary — as  we  are 
specially  told  in  Holy  Scripture — conceived  her  Son 
by  Faith.  When  she  went  to  visit  St.  Elizabeth  the 
latter   cried :    "  Blessed    art   thou    that   hast   believed 

! "  ^  which  was  as  much  as  to  say,  "  thou  art  a 

mother,  indeed,  but  it  is  thy  faith  that  has  made  thee 
so  ".  From  this  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  have  unani- 
mously argued  that  the  Blessed  Virgin's  union  with 
her  Son  began  in  the  exactly  opposite  way  to  that  of 
ordinary  mothers.  They  are  united  to  their  children 
corporally  at  first,  conceiving  them  naturally,  according 
to  the  flesh ;  but  she  conceived  hers  purely  by  the 
Spirit,  apart  from  nature,  and  had  no  corporal  union 
with  Him  till  after  her  act  of  faith  and  obedience  had 
enabled  her  to  receive  Him  within  her :  Prius  concepit 
^  Luke  i.  43. 


Mary  a  Foreshadowing  of  Christ.        51 

mente  quam  corpore,  St.  Augustine  says.^  Thus,  its 
spiritual  nature  is  the  first  great  distinction  between 
Mary's  motherhood  and  that  of  other  women. 

The  second  difference  between  them  is  that  Christ 
chose  to  be  miraculously  born  without  a  human  father, 
and  thus  to  receive  His  sacred  flesh  and  blood  from 
her  alone  when  He  became  man.  Hence  His  tie  with 
her  was  not  merely  that  of  an  only  Son,  but  of  an  only 
Son  to  Whom  she  stood — humanly  speaking— in  the 
place  of  both  parents,  and  from  Whom  she  therefore 
had  the  right  to  a  double  share  of  His  holy  affections. 

Here,  then,  we  have  plainly  set  before  us  the  Blessed 
Virgin's  title  to  the  "  fulness  of  grace,"  modelled  on  that 
of  Christ  Himself,  that  I  have  claimed  for  her ;  and 
from  the  greatness  of  her  claim  we  may  judge  of  the 
liberality  with  which  it  would  be  granted.  When  we 
see  so  clearly  what  she  is  to  be  to  Him,  we  find  no 
room  left  for  doubting  that  He  will  send  her  into  the 
world  not  only  free  from  sin,  but  actually  endowed 
with  every  virtue,  that  she  may  thus  truly  shadow 
forth,  as  a  faithful  image,  the  Messias  to  Whom  she 
is  to  give  birth  when  the  time  is  ripe.  Christ,  we  must 
never  forget,  is  the  Author  of  His  own  Mother's  exist- 
ence ;  and  if  even  ordinary  man  is  formed  on  the 
model  of  the  Sacred  Humanity,  how  much  nearer  to 
it  must  not  that  Mother's  likeness  be? 

1  Sermon  ccxv.,  n.  4,  torn,  v.,  col.  950 


52 


IV. 

ON  THE  NATIVITY  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 

(Being  two  of  Bossuet's  Sermons  combined.) 

"Quis,  putas,  puer  iste  erit?  "  (St.  Luke  i.  66). 

Before  the  birth  of  Our  Lord,  all  good  men  who  lived 
in  expectation  of  Israel's  Redeemer  incessantly  longed 
for  His  coming.  They  ardently  desired  that  the 
Eternal  Father  should  hasten  the  hour  of  sending  them 
their  Deliverer  ;  and  the  transports  of  joy  with  which 
they  would  have  greeted  the  smallest  sign  that  that 
hour  was  approaching  may  be  well  imagined  by  us. 
Suppose  them,  then,  to  have  known  when  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  born  that  she  was  to  be  the  Saviour's 
Mother,  what  may  we  not  conclude  would  have  been 
their  delight?  Even  as  those  races  that  worship  the 
sun  rejoice  at  the  sight  of  his  herald,  the  dawn,  so 
would  the  men  of  faith  in  Israel  have  been  enraptured 
at  the  thought  of  beholding  the  glorious  birthday  of 
her  who  was  to  usher  in  the  coming  of  the  "  Desired  of 
all  Nations ".  We  who  come  after  them  can  under- 
stand their  feelings.  Moved  by  reverence  for  Him 
Who  chose  her  for  His  Mother,  we  come  to-day  to  do 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     53 

honour  to  this  newly-risen  star  :  to  deck  her  cradle — 
not,  indeed,  with  actual  lilies  and  roses — but  with  the 
holy  desires  and  heartfelt  praise  that  are  the  true 
flowers  of  the  Spirit. 

I  shall  best  express  what  I  have  to  say  of  Mary's 
Nativity  by  arranging  my  subject  under  certain  definite 
heads.  I  shall  try  to  show  that  her  first  great  advan- 
tage as  the  Mother  of  Jesus  Christ  will  be  her  lasting 
blessedness  in  loving  Him  with  a  quite  unequalled 
affection,  and  her  second  prerogative  the  corresponding 
love — incapable  of  comparison — that  He  will  bear  to 
her.  I  hope  further  to  prove  that  she  will  possess  a 
third  wonderful  privilege  in  the  fact  that  her  union 
with  Jesus  will  unite  her  also  in  the  closest  manner 
with  the  Eternal  Father ;  and  finally  to  explain  how 
this  union  will  confer  on  her  the  Motherhood  of  the 
Faithful,  who  are  at  once  children  of  the  Father  and 
brethren  of  the  Son. 

The  subject  is  great  and  difficult ;  but  I  enter  upon 
it  with  confidence  in  the  helping  grace  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity ;  for  is  not  Mary  daughter  of  the  Father, 
mother  of  the  Son,  and  spouse  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 

I. 

To  begin  with  the  two  first-named  privileges  : — my 
first  point  is  that  this  new-bom  maiden  is  unspeakably 
blessed  in  being  predestined  to  experience  such  ex- 
ceeding love  for  Him  Who  is  alone  really  worthy  of 
our  hearts. 


54         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

We  all  acknowledge  that  the  highest  gift  ever  given 
by  God  to  His  saints  is  love  for  the  Lord  Jesus,  From 
the  beginning  of  all  ages,  before  His  coming,  He  was 
the  delight  of  the  Patriarchs.  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob  could  hardly  contain  their  joy  at  only  remem- 
bering that  He  was  to  be  born  of  their  race.  How,  then, 
can  Mary,  from  whose  very  flesh  He  is  to  spring — who 
is  to  gaze  on  Him  sleeping  in  her  arms,  or  feeding 
from  her  virginal  breast — do  otherwise  than  feel  her 
whole  being  dilate  with  love  of  Him?  And  after- 
wards, when  with  His  first  infant  lisp  He  begins  to 
call  her  "  Mother " ;  when,  as  His  childish  speech 
develops  a  little,  she  hears  Him  offer  His  earliest 
tribute  of  praise  to  God  His  Father  ;  and  when,  later, 
she  sees  Him  in  the  privacy  of  home  moving  about, 
eagerly  obedient  to  her  lightest  word  : — how  burning 
will  not  be  the  ardour  of  her  love  ? 

But,  besides  the  grace  of  loving  Our  Lord,  another 
great  gift  of  God  is  to  be  able  to  think  much  of  Him. 
We  well  know  that  His  Name  is  honey  to  the  lips, 
light  to  the  eyes,  and  a  flame  to  the  heart :  ^  God  has 
conferred  a  nameless  grace  on  every  one  of  His  words 
and  actions,  to  think  on  which  is  Eternal  life.  Those 
who  think  of  them  often,  undoubtedly  find  unspeak- 
able comfort  in  so  doing.  In  this  practice  consisted 
the  whole  sweetness  of  Mary's  life :  we  see  from  the 
Gospels  that  she  incessantly  went  over  and  over  again 
in  her  thoughts  whatever  her  Son  said  to  her  and 
^  St.  Bernard,  Serm.  xv,  in  Cant.,  n.  6,  torn,  i.,  col.  13  ii. 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     55 

whatever  was  said  to  her  about  Him  :  Maria  aiUem 
conservabat  omnia  verba  hcec  in  corde  siw.^  Only  by- 
depriving  her  of  life  itself  could  one  have  obliterated 
these  thoughts  from  her  heart,  for  they  formed  part  of 
her  very  life-blood.  If  even  ordinary  mothers  have 
their  interests  bound  up  in  those  of  their  sons  how 
much  more  must  Mary's  have  been  so  bound  ?  How 
intensely  must  she  have  admired  His  life,  been 
charmed  by  His  words,  suffered  in  His  passion,  loved 
with  His  love,  and  rejoiced  in  His  glor>' !  And  when 
He  returned  to  His  Father,  what  must  have  been 
her  impatience  to  go  to  Him  ? 

St  Thomas  ^  says  that  the  inequality  amongst  the 
Blessed  in  Heaven  will  consist  in  this : — that  those 
who  have  most  ardently  desired  the  Divine  presence 
in  this  world  will  enjoy  it  most  abundantly  in  the 
next,  because  the  sweetness  of  enjoyment  is  in  pro- 
portion to  the  desire.  By  the  burning  impatience 
of  St.  Paul,  who  so  craved  for  his  Lord's  embrace  in 
eternity  that  he  ardently  wished  to  "be  dissolved  to  be 
with  Christ,"  ^  we  may  judge  somewhat  of  what  would 
be  the  feelings  and  longings  of  Christ's  mother.  Even 
Tobias's  mother  felt  terribly  one  year's  absence  from 
her  son  :  *  and  what  an  immeasurable  distance  between 
her  love  and  that  of  Mary  !  What,  then,  must  be  the 
place  in  Heaven  to  be  attained  by  the  Blessed  Infant 
round  whom  our  thoughts  are  centring  to-day?     If 

^  Luke  ii.  19.  *  I.  Part.,  Quaest.  xii.,  art.  v  . 

^  Phil.  i.  23.  *  Tob.  V.  23  et  seq. 


56  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

her  greatness  is  to  be  according  to  the  measure  of 
her  desires  she  must  surpass  all  the  hierarchies  of 
angels ;  for  her  only  fitting  place  amongst  the  heavenly 
hosts  will  be-close  to  the  throne  of  her  much-loved  Son 
Himself,  there  to  share  the  most  intimate  secrets  of 
His  heart,  and  to  exert  her  all-powerful  influence 
with  Him  for  ever : — there  to  offer  those  petitions  for 
us  which  His  filial  love  will  make  Him  unable  to 
refuse. 

This  thought  brings  us  naturally  to  consider  the 
other  side  of  our  great  subject : — that  Love  with  which 
the  Son  of  God  honours  the  Blessed  Virgin.  If  it  is 
difficult  to  treat  the  first  affection  as  it  deserves,  it 
seems  well-nigh  impossible  to  say  anything  adequate 
of  the  second  ;  for  in  as  far  as  Our  Lord  necessarily 
surpasses  Mary  in  all  other  things,  so  He  must  be 
far  greater  in  His  capacity  of  Son  than  she  in  that 
of  Mother.  The  only  suitable,  as  well  as  the  most 
moving,  way  of  treating  such  a  subject  is  to  see  what 
can  be  found  about  it  in  the  Gospels : — as,  indeed, 
may  be  said  of  all  subjects  ;  for  one  word  of  Holy 
Scripture  has  more  power  over  the  soul  than  all  that 
human  eloquence  can  produce.  What,  then,  can  we 
discover  in  the  Sacred  writings  that  will  help  towards 
some  realisation  of  Christ's  feelings  for  His  Mother  ? 
Nothing,  I  think,  to  equal  the  wonderful  account  of 
His  deep  love  of  human  nature,  itself.  It  is  worth 
while  to  make  a  short  digression  for  considering 
this.  *■ 


071  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     57 

The  manner  in  which  Our  Saviour  took  upon  Him- 
self everything  belonging  to  man — sin  alone  excepted 
— even  to  our  greatest  infirmities,  is  an  unanswerable 
argument  against  those  unpardonable  heretics  who, 
having  dared  to  deny  the  reality  of  His  sacred  flesh, 
necessarily  denied  the  reality  of  His  sufferings  and 
human  passions.  By  doing  this  they  deprived  them- 
selves of  the  greatest  possible  consolation  ;  for,  what- 
ever sort  of  trouble  we  may  be  afflicted  with,  we 
may  always  remember  that  we  have  the  honour  of  en- 
during it  in  our  Divine  Master's  company,  when  we 
know  that  all  His  human  weaknesses  were  actually  real. 
If  a  man  suffers  from  want,  let  Him  think  of  His 
Saviour's  hunger  and  thirst,  and  extreme  indigence. 
Is  he  injured  in  reputation  ?  His  Lord  was  "  despised 
and  rejected  of  men".  Does  some  depressing  in- 
firmity keep  hold  of  him  ?  Christ  "  suffered  unto 
death".  Or,  again,  we  may  be  overpowered  by  a 
crushing  sense  of  weariness : — then  we  can  go  to 
the  garden  of  olives,  and  there  behold  Our  Lord 
in  a  state  of  such  fear,  sadness,  and  overwhelming 
oppression  that  He  actually  sweats  blood  and  water 
at  the  mere  thought  of  His  trial.  No  one  has  ever 
heard  of  such  a  thing  as  this  in  the  case  of  any  other 
person  ;  therefore  we  may  safely  say  that  never  did 
any  human  being  possess  feelings  so  tender,  so  deli- 
cate, and  so  strong,  as  Our  Saviour's :  though  they 
were  kept  under  extreme  control  because  of  being 
perfectly  subject  to  the  Will  of  His  Father. 


5^  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Now,  the  relation  that  all  this  bears  to  the  special 
point  under  consideration  is  twofold.  First — (as  we 
have  already  seen  in  connection  with  the  subject  of 
Mary's  immaculate  conception) — the  thought  that 
Christ  took  upon  Himself,  so  wholly  and  sincerely, 
such  infirmities  of  our  race  as  might  even  seem  un- 
worthy of  Him,  makes  us  certain  that  He  cannot 
possibly  have  failed  to  adopt  the  universal  and  natural 
feeling  of  filial  devotion  towards  her  who  had  bestowed 
His  human  life  upon  Him.  Next,  if  we  remember 
how  deeply  the  special  acuteness  of  His  feelings  would 
make  Him  love  His  Mother  on  even  ordinary  grounds, 
we  shall  the  better  understand  what  must  have  been 
His  affection  for  such  a  mother  as  Mary,  in  return  for 
such  gifts  as  He  had  received  from  her.  It  is  not  too 
bold  to  say  that,  as  man,  He  owed  to  her — besides 
life  itself — a  portion  of  His  glory,  and  the  purity  of 
His  flesh. 

This  statement,  though  perhaps  a  little  startling  at 
first  sight,  is  none  the  less  true ;  neither  does  it  in  any 
way  detract  from  the  glory  of  the  Master.  It  may 
be  well  proved  from  an  argument  set  forth  by  St. 
Augustine  in  many  fine  passages  of  his  writings,  but 
especially  in  his  books  against  Julian.  This  great 
man,  from  the  lamentable  fact  that  concupiscence  has 
a  share  in  all  ordinary  births,  draws  the  conclusion 
that  that  accursed  thing — corrupting  whatever  it  comes 
near — so  poisons  the  matter  whence  our  bodies  are 
formed  that  the  flesh  composed  of  it  necessarily  con- 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     59 

tracts  corruption.  Hence,  the  glorified  bodies  which 
we  are  to  have  at  the  Resurrection  will  not  be  bom 
anew  "  of  the  will  of  man,  or  of  the  will  of  the  flesh  "  ; 
but  the  spirit  of  God  wiU  breathe  life  into  them  again, 
when  they  shall  have  left  in  the  Earth  all  the  impurities 
of  their  first  birth.  Now,  if  the  concupiscence  attached 
to  the  ordinary  mode  of  generation  has  thus  deeply 
contaminated  our  bodies,  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
fruit  of  virginal  flesh  will,  contrariwise,  draw  marvellous 
purity  from  its  incorrupt  root ;  and  as  Our  Saviour's 
sacred  flesh  must  of  necessity  exceed  the  very  Sun 
itself  in  purity.  He  chose  from  eternity — as  we  have 
also  seen  in  speaking  of  her  conception — a  Virgin 
Mother  from  whom  He  should  take  this  flesh,  so  that 
she  might  bear  her  Son  by  faith  alone,  untouched  by 
concupiscence. 

What,  then,  must  we  bfelieve  this  Child  born  to-day 
will  become  ?  "  Quis,  putas,  puer  isle  erit  ?  "  To  love 
God, and  to  be  loved  by  Him,  are  two  purely  gratuitous, 
supernatural^  gifts  to  all  ordinary  beings.  But  she  is 
to  be  the  Mother  of  God  :  her  Divine  Saviour  is  to  be 
her  Son.  Therefore,  as  a  mother,  she  will  naturally 
love  her  Son  ;  whilst  she  will  have  a  right  to  His  love, 
as  her  Child,  which  no  other  human  being  can  possess. 

From  this  necessary  mutual  love  spring  two  impor- 
tant consequences.  First,  the  greatness  of  the  gifts 
that  Our  Lord  will  undoubtedly  bestow  on  His 
Mother ;  secondly,  the  wonderful  relation  of  Mary  to 
the  Eternal  Father  which  this  beautiful  tie  between 


6o         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Mother  and  Child  will  produce  : — for  can  the  Father 
help  loving  what  the  Son  loves  ?  Is  it  not  in  the  very 
person  of  God  the  Son  that  heaven  and  earth  are  to 
be  reconciled  ;  and  are  not  •  all  our  hopes  actually 
founded  on  His  being  the  eternal  bond  between  God 
and  man  ?  So  that  it  must  be  taken  as  indisputably 
established  that  she,  through  whom  this  bond  is  formed, 
will  be  especially  loved. 

But  the  union  of  Mary  with  God  the  Father,  caused 
by  her  wonderful  maternity,  is  not  merely  a  tie  on  the 
human  side,  as  may  possibly  be  supposed.  It  includes 
a  further  and  peculiar  privilege,  the  nature  of  which  I 
shall  now  go  on  to  discuss  separately. 

2. 

The  line  of  reasoning  that  I  shall  take  upon  this 
point — an  exceedingly  delicate  one,  on  account  of  the 
ease  with  which  one  may  fall  into  error  on  the  subject 
— has  been  to  some  extent  suggested  by  what  has 
been  already  said  of  the  Blessed  Virgin's  love  for  her 
Son,  The  doctrine  I  would  now  set  forth  rests  on  the 
conclusion  that  this  love  of  hers  did  not  stop  short  at 
His  humanity ;  but,  taking  that  humanity  for  a  con- 
necting link,  passed  on  to  the  Divine  Nature,  which  is 
inseparable  from  it.  If  we  would  illustrate  such  a 
deep  theological  point  by  something  familiar,  we  can 
only  remember  once  more  how  the  love  of  any  really 
devoted  mother  extends  to  everything  connected  with 
her  son  : — to  his  friends — his  general  concerns — his 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     6i 

possessions,  and  so  on  : — but,  most  of  all,  to  whatever 
has  to  do  with  hh  own  person,  about  which  she  is  apt 
to  be  sensitive  to  the  very  highest  degree. 

Now,  let  us  ask,  what  was  the  Divine  Nature  to  the 
Son  of  Mary?  In  what  way,  and  how  nearly,  did  it 
touch  His  Person  ?  We  need  only  our  Faith  to  give 
an  answer.  Every  day,  when  we  say  our  Creed,  we 
profess  belief  in  "  Jesus  Christ — the  Son  of  God — born 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  ".  Do  we,  then,  understand  that 
He  whom  we  acknowledge  as  the  Son  of  Almighty 
God,  and  He  who  was  bom  of  the  Virgin,  are  two 
persons  ?  Most  certainly  not.  It  is  the  same  Person 
Who,  being  God  and  man,  is  Son  of  God  according  to 
the  Divine  Nature,  and  Son  of  Mary  according  to 
humanity.  Hence  it  is  that  the  Fathers  declared  the 
Blessed  Virgin  to  be  the  Mother  of  God.  It  was  faith 
in  this  truth  that  triumphed  over  the  blasphemies  of 
Nestorius,  and  that  will  make  the  devils  tremble  to 
the  end  of  the  world.  Now,  surely,  if  I  say  that  Mary 
must  love  her  Son  entirely  no  one  will  venture  to 
dispute  it :  and  if  it  is  true  that  both  these  natures 
belong  to  Him,  then  she  must  necessarily  cherish  Him 
as  a  God-man.  The  mystery  of  such  a  love,  it  is  true, 
can  be  compared  to  nothing  on  earth  ;  and  hence  we 
are  compelled  to  raise  our  thoughts  even  as  high  as 
the  Eternal  Father  Himself  to  find  a  comparison. 

Ever  since  human  nature  was  joined  to  the  Person 
of  the  Word,  it  has  necessarily  been  an  object  of 
complacency  to  the  Father.    These  are  lofty  thoughts. 


62         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

I  acknowledge ;  but,  as  they  are  really  fundamental 
principles  of  Christianity,  it  is  of  importance  that  they 
should  be  understood  by  the  faithful ;  and  I  shall  put 
forward  nothing  that  cannot  be  proved  from  the 
Scriptures.  Of  whom,  then,  are  we  to  suppose  that 
the  Eternal  Father  was  speaking  when  that  miraculous 
voice  from  God  broke  forth  on  Mount  Tabor :  "  This 
is  my  beloved  Son,  in  Whom  I  am  well  pleased  "  ?  ^ 
Was  it  not  of  that  Word  made  flesh  who  was  then 
appearing  transfigured  before  the  eyes  of  His  Apostles? 
By  such  an  authentic  declaration  as  this,  therefore, 
God  made  it  clear  that  His  Fatherly  Love  reaches  to 
the  humanity  of  His  Son  ;  and  that,  having  joined  the 
human  nature  so  closely  to  the  Divine,  He  will  never 
more  separate  them  in  His  affections.  In  this  declara- 
tion, too,  if  we  can  but  thoroughly  grasp  it,  we  shall 
find  the  whole  foundation  of  our  hope  to  consist ;  for 
it  puts  before  us  the  fact  that  Jesus,  Who  is  man  even 
as  we  arey  is  recognised  and  loved  by  God  as  His  own 
Son. 

Now,  let  none  take  scandal  when  I  say  that  there 
is  a  certain  likeness  to  this  love  of  the  Father  in  the 
Blessed  Virgin's  affection,  inasmuch  as  her  love  em- 
braces at  once  the  Divinity  and  humanity  of  her  Son 
which  God's  almighty  Hand  has  so  closely  joined : — 
for  God,  in  His  mysterious  counsels,  having  judged 
it  fitting  to  decree  that  the  Virgin  should  beget,  in 
Time,  that  One  Whom  He  is  continually  begetting 
'  Matt.  xvii.  5. 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     63 

in  Eternity,  has  thus  in  some  sort  associated  her  with 
His  eternal  act  of  generation.  Consider  this  deep 
mystery  well :  understand  that  to  make  her  mother 
of  that  self-same  Son  to  Whom  He  is  Father,  is 
indeed  to  let  her  take  part  in  His  own  begetting. 
Hence,  having  once  given  her,  as  it  were,  this  share 
in  His  eternal  act  of  generation,  it  was  becoming,  and 
worthy  of  His  wisdom,  that  a  spark  of  His  Infinite 
Love  for  that  Son  should  enkindle  her  breast.  As 
the  providence  of  God  disposes  of  all  things  with 
wonderful  justice,  it  seems  even  necessary  that  He 
should  fill  the  Blessed  Virgin's  heart  with  an  affection 
far  beyond  that  of  mere  nature,  and  reaching  even  to 
the  very  highest  degree  of  grace  ;  so  that  she  might 
have  for  her  Son  feelings  that  should  be  at  the  same 
time  fit  for  a  mother  of  God,  and  worthy  of  a  God- 
man.  Not  even  the  intellect  of  the  sublimest  of 
angels  could  enable  one  to  comprehend  this  most 
perfect  union  of  the  Eternal  Father  with  her.  God 
"  so  loved  the  world,"  as  Our  Lord  Himself  says,  "  as 
to  give  His  only-begotten  Son  "  ;  ^  and  the  Apostle 
further  declares  that  He  has  "  also,  with  Him,  given 
us  all  things  ".^ 

If,  then,  He  did  this  out  of  the  true  affection  He 
had  for  us  because  He  had  given  us  His  Only-Begotten 
as  Master  and  Saviour,  what  far  greater  designs  must 
not  His  unspeakable  love  have  made  Him  form  for 
Mary,  concerning  whom  He  had  decreed  that  Jesus 

1  John  iii.  i6.  2  RQm,  viii.  32. 


64         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

should  belong  to  her  in  the  same  capacity  in  which 
He  belongs  to  Him  : — that  she  should  be  the  Mother 
of  His  only  Son,  and  that  He  would  be  the  Father 
of  hers  ? 

O  prodigious  abyss  of  love  !  The  mind  gets  beyond 
its  depth  in  trying  to  think  of  this  mysterious  union  : 
in  considering  what  an  object  of  delight  Mary  must 
have  been  to  the  Father,  from  the  moment  when  a 
Divine  Son — common  to  a  woman  of  flesh  and  to 
the  Godhead  Himself — became  the  bond  between 
Him  and  her. 

Truly,  then,  whatever  praises  we  may  offer  to  a 
Child  with  this  destiny  are  far  below  her  deserts. 
The  mere  contemplation  of  her  grandeur  as  pre- 
destined Mother  of  God  dazzles  our  mental  sight, 
and  makes  us  unable  to  speak  of  her  as  we  would. 
But,  having  treated  of  her  to  the  best  of  my  power 
in  this  great  position,  which  seems  to  raise  her  so  far 
above  us,  I  would  now  bring  her  shortly  before  you 
in  that  relation  to  ourselves  which  I  have  referred 
to  as  a  special  consequence  of  her  alliance  with  the 
Eternal  Father.  I  may,  as  my  final  point,  show  how 
her  greatness  must  necessarily  be  a  beneficent  great- 
ness, and  how  her  wonderful  dignity  carries  with  it 
the  office  of  Mother  of  the  Faithful. 

3- 

It  is  the  very  nature  of  God,  who  possesses  in  Him- 
self every  perfection  and  everything  that  can  possibly 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     65 

have  existence — every  grace  and  gift,  every  beauty 
that  we  behold  in  creation — to  give.  One  of  the 
noblest  and  most  worthy  of  many  ideas  that  we  may 
form  of  the  Divine  Essence  is  to  look  upon  It  as 
not  only  a  treasure-house  of  unlimited  perfections, 
but  as  one  that  must  open  and  pour  itself  forth 
on  creatures.  And  why  ?  Chiefly  because  one  of  its 
chief  attributes  is  goodness.  To  begin  with,  creatures 
would  never  exist  at  all  if  God  did  not  draw  them 
forth  from  their  nothingness  by  imparting  to  them, 
so  to  speak,  a  share  of  His  own  Being  ;  and  we  have 
already  discussed  the  great  extent  to  which  His  love 
for  man  makes  Him  go  in  bestowing  favours  upon 
Him.  St.  Augustine  says  that  there  are  only  three 
reasons  for  giving  at  all :  first,  necessity,  or  compulsion ; 
secondly,  self-interest,  or  expectation  of  some  advantage 
in  return  ;  thirdly,  beneficence,  which  proceeds  from 
pure  goodness.  It  is  very  clear  that  God  cannot 
give  from  either  of  the  two  first  motives ;  hence  He 
must  give  out  of  simple  love,  which  is  the  quality 
proper  to  goodness. 

But  if  love  is  proper  to  goodness,  fertility  is  proper 
to  love.  Indeed,  one  sort  of  fertility  is  love,  as 
opposed  to  the  fertility  of  nature.  In  the  ordinary 
course  of  things  we  see  people  without  children  adopt 
them  ;  and  hence  St.  Augustine  often  calls  charity 
**  a  Mother  "  :  Charitas  Mater  est}  Now,  this  double 
kind  of  fertility  that  we  see  in  creatures  emanates 
^  In  Ep.  Joan.,  tract  ii.,  n.  4,  torn,  iii.,  part  ii.,  col.  838. 


66         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

from  the  same  quality  in  God,  whence  all  paternity 
proceeds.  The  Nature  of  God  is  fruitful,  and  pro- 
duces His  Son  by  Nature  Whom  He  begets  in 
Eternity.  The  love  of  God  is  fruitful,  giving  Him 
adopted  sons  ;  and  all  who  are  His  "  children  by 
adoption "  are  born  of  this  second  fertility.  Mary 
shares  in  the  natural  fertility  of  God  by  begetting 
His  own  son  ;  but  as  the  sole  cause  of  her  dignity, 
and  of  Christ's  Incarnation,  is  the  love  of  God  for 
man,  she  must  necessarily  also  share  in  the  fertility 
of  His  Love  by  begetting  the  Faithful,  in  whose  birth 
she  has  "  co-operated  by  her  charity  "  :  cooperata  est 
charitate} 

Mary,  then,  is  at  the  same  time  Mother  of  Christ 
and  our  Mother ;  and  this  gives  us  double  reason  for 
keeping  the  anniversary  of  her  birth  with  joy,  since 
it  gives  her  a  twofold  power  of  intercession.  To  be 
a  perfectly  efficacious  intercessor  before  the  throne  of 
God,  the  one  who  pleads  must  possess  equal  nearness 
to  God  and  to  man  ;  and  of  what  creature  but  Mary 
can  this  be  said  ?  As  Mother  of  Christ  she  is  close  to 
the  Eternal  Father,  and  as  Mother  of  the  Faithful  she 
is  close  to  us  :  hence  her  position  as  a  pleader  is  quite 
exceptional. 

But  if  she  is,  by  virtue  of  her  dignity  and  office, 
necessarily  Mother  of  the  Faithful,  not  all  the  Faithful 
are  her  worthy  children  whom  she  will  acknowledge 
and  help  : — on  certain  conditions  only  may  we  rely  on 

^  St.  Aug.  de  Sancta  Virginit.,  n,  6,  torn,  vi.,  col.  343. 


On  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.     67 

her  powerful  intercession.  These  conditions,  however, 
may  all  be  reduced  to  one :  to  the  fulfilment  of  the 
Will  of  God  after  the  pattern  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
If  Mary's  existence  is  bound  up,  as  we  have  seen  that 
it  is,  in  that  of  her  Son,  those  only  who  love  Him  can 
be  loved  by  her;  and  He  Himself  has  placed  the  true 
test  of  love  for  all  Christians  in  obedience.  But  our 
obedience  is  to  be  like  His  : — and  what  was  that  ?  It 
was  very  simple  :  Christ  pleased  not  Himself}  He  did 
only  the  Will  of  His  Father  without  any  choice  as  to 
what  It  should  be  ;  and  as  the  Father's  Will  was  suffer- 
ing, He  suffered  "unto  death".  His  Mother  did  the 
same  :  she  had  not  even  a  sight  of  the  glory  on  Mount 
Tabor,  but  had  to  bear  her  full  share  of  the  ignominy 
of  the  Cross.  Nay,  it  was  actually  at  the  foot  of  the 
Cross  that  her  Son  specially  proclaimed  her  our 
Mother ;  and  this  for  two  reasons : — that  she  might 
have  a  true  experience  of  the  deepest  sorrows  of 
motherhood,  so  as  to  sympathise  with  us ;  and  that 
we  might  know  how  only  through  courageously  and 
lovingly  suffering  what  God  wills,  and  taking  up  our 
cross  as  He  has  commanded,  can  we  ever  be  her 
genuine  children.  And — to  finish  my  subject  with  a 
suggestion  far  above  ordinary  human  ideas — this  is  not 
all.  We  may  do  more  than  be  worthy  and  trustful  chil- 
dren of  Mary,  by  doing  the  Will  of  God  in  all  things 
and  loving  the  Cross.  We  may  even — O  wonderful 
thought ! — share  in  some  sort  the  glorious  privilege 

^  Rom.  XV.  3. 


68         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

of  her  Maternity.  If  this  sounds  impossible  or  pre- 
sumptuous, listen  to  Christ  Himself;  for  does  He  not 
say  :  "  He  who  doth  the  Will  of  My  Father  Who  is  in 
Heaven,  the  same  is  My  brother,  and  My  sister,  omA 
My  Mother'' ?^ 

^  Mark  iii.  32,  seq. 


69 


V. 

FOR  THE  FEAST  OF  THE  ANNUNCIATION. 

"  Creavit  Dominus  novum  super  terrain :  fsemina  circumdabit 
virum  "  (Jerem.  xxxi.  22). 

Out  of  that  great  and  terrible  wreck,  in  which  human 
reason  lost  its  chief  possessions,  and  especially  the 
Truth  for  which  God  had  formed  it,  the  mind  of  man 
has  retained  a  vague  and  uneasy  desire  to  recover 
some  vestiges  of  that  truth  ;  and  of  this  desire  has 
been  bom  an  almost  incredible  love  of  novelty,  which 
appears  in  the  world  in  various  forms,  and  exercises 
minds  of  various  kinds.  Some,  it  merely  impels  to 
collect  countless  foreign  curiosities  ;  more  energetic 
spirits  are  driven  by  the  feeling  to  exhaust  themselves 
in  attempts  to  discover  fresh  walks  in  art,  or  in  the 
management  of  business  ;  whilst  others,  again,  search 
nature  for  her  hidden  secrets  from  the  same  motive. 
In  short,  it  may  be  asserted  of  this  desire  for  "  some- 
thing new"  that  throughout  the  universe  no  feeling 
has  a  stronger  hold  on  human  nature,  or  is  a  more 
common  incentive  to  all  forms  of  activity.  To  cure 
this  disease,  God  Himself  sets  before  us  in  Scripture 


70         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

what  we  may  call,  in  all  reverence,  holy  novelties  and 
profitable  curiosities ;  and  of  this  to-day's  Mystery  is 
a  striking  instance.  The  Prophet  has  drawn  our 
attention  to  it  as  an  extraordinary  and  astonishing 
"  new  thing,"  in  the  words  of  the  text  ;  and  we  are 
now  to  consider  it.  We  must  not,  however,  fail  first 
to  beg  the  help  of  Our  Lord  through  His  Mother 
by  greeting  her,  on  this  day  when  it  was  first  uttered, 
with  Gabriel's  salutation  of  Ave  ! 

To  find  true  lowliness  even  amongst  men,  amid  the 
universal  eagerness  to  be  great  in  all  people  and  at  all 
times,  is  exceedingly  rare.  But  if  it  is  a  spectacle 
that  always  strikes  us  afresh  to  see  men  remaining 
content  with  a  naturally  low  station,  it  is  a  far  more 
wonderfully  new  thing  to  see  a  God,  stripping  Himself 
of  His  supreme  greatness,  come  down  from  the  height 
of  His  throne  and  voluntarily  annihilate  Himself. 
Yet  this  is  the  marvel  that  the  Church  presents  to  our 
notice  in  the  Mystery  of  the  Word  made  Flesh,  and 
which  made  the  prophet  say  that  "  God  hath  created 
a  new  thing  upon  the  earth,"  when  He  sent  His  Son 
there,  humiliated  and  brought  to  nought. 

Now,  in  this  self-abasement  of  the  God-man,  there 
are  two  most  extraordinary  things  to  be  noted.  God 
is  the  Lord  of  lords,  and  cannot  possibly  behold 
anything  above  Him  :  God  is  alone  in  greatness,  and 
can  find  none  around  to  be  His  equals.  Yet — O 
ever-new  prodigy ! — He  Who  has  nothing  above  Hini 


For  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation.      71 

becomes  subject  and  gives  Himself  a  Master ;  He 
Who  is  without  an  equal  becomes  man  and  gives 
Himself  fellows.  That  Son,  equal  in  Eternity  to  the 
Father,  undertakes  to  become  His  Father's  servant : 
that  Son,  raised  infinitely  above  man,  puts  Himself 
on  an  equality  with  all  men.  Well,  indeed,  may  the 
Prophet  declare  that  the  Creator  has  done  anew  thing: 
for  never  before  has  God  had  such  a  subject,  or  man 
such  a  companion.  But  in  reflecting  on  this  new 
wonder  the  second  part  of  the  text  must  be  kept  in 
mind  :  fcemina  circumdabit  virum.  These  words  bring 
out  Mary's  part  in  this  marvellous  work  ;  and  we  may 
truly  express  her  share  in  it  by  saying  that  God  the 
Son,  in  making  Himself  a  subject,  chose  her  as 
the  Temple  in  which  He  would  pay  homage  to  the 
Father ;  and,  in  uniting  Himself  to  men,  made  her 
the  channel  of  His  intercourse  with  them.  Thus, 
she  is  associated  with  both  sides  of  our  subject : 
for  Christ  has  honoured  her  by  annihilating  and 
subjecting  Himself  in  her,  and  by  communicating 
with  man  through  her. 

I. 

It  is  a  surprising  but  indisputable  truth  that, 
amongst  the  infinite  means  that  God  possesses  for 
establishing  His  glory,  the  most  efficacious  of  all  is 
necessarily  joined  to  lowliness.  He  may  reverse  the 
whole  order  of  nature,  or  display  His  power  to  man- 
kind by  countless  fresh  miracles ;  but,  marvellous  as 


72  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

it  may  appear,  He  can  never  show  His  greatness  so 
plainly  as  when  He  stoops  to  humble  Himself.  Here 
is  a  thing  which  seems  strange,  indeed,  and  new  ! 
The  thought  may  be  difficult  to  grasp  ;  but  the 
mystery  we  are  dealing  with  affords  plain  evidence  of 
its  truth.  St.  Thomas  ^  has  clearly  proved  that  the 
greatest  work  of  God  was  that  of  uniting  Himself 
personally  to  the  creature,  as  He  did  in  the  Incarna- 
tion ;  and  it  is  not  nearly  well  enough  understood  that, 
in  the  whole  range  of  unlimited  possibilities,  omni- 
potence could  have  found  nothing  more  noble  to  do 
than  to  give  the  world  a  God-man.  "  O  Lord,  Thy 
work  !  "  the  prophet  says  ^ : — fearing  not  to  assert  that 
God  can  do  nothing  more  wonderful. 

But  if  it  is  His  greatest  work  it  is  also,  consequently, 
His  greatest  glory,  for  God  is  glorified  only  in  His 
works  :  Icetabitur  Dominus  in  operihus  suis.^  Now, 
God  could  not  work  this  stupendous  miracle  except 
by  lowering  Himself,  according  to  St.  Paul  * : — "  But 
debased  Himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant ".  We 
must,  then,  echo  the  Prophet's  words,  and  acknow- 
ledge that  God  has  wrought  something  fresh  upon 
earth : — and  what  ?  He  chose  to  carry  His  greatness 
to  its  very  highest  pitch,  and  for  this  He  stooped  : 
He  chose  to  exhibit  His  glory  in  its  most  brilliant 
light,  and  for  this  He  put  on  our  weakness.  He 
"  dwelt  amongst  us,  and  we  saw  His  glory  ".^     His 

^  Part,  in.,  quaest.  i.,  part.  i.  ^  Habac.  iii.  2. 

*  Ps.  ciii.  31.  *  Phil.  ii.  7.  ®  John  i.  14. 


For  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation.      73 

glory  then  showed  greatest  when  it  corresponded  to 
the  depth  of  His  abasement. 

It  is  not,  however,  merely  as  a  "new  thing,"  or  an 
object  of  even  holy  curiosity,  that  I  am  dwelling  on 
this  subject.  My  great  aim  is  to  promote  the  love 
of  that  fundamental  Christian  virtue — humility  ;  and 
this,  by  showing  God's  own  love  for  it.  He  cannot 
possibly  find  humility  in  Himself,  the  height  of  His 
supremacy  not  allowing  of  His  abasement  as  long 
as  He  remains  in  His  own  nature :  He  must  always 
act  as  God'  and  hence  always  be  great.  Therefore, 
what  He  cannot  find  in  Himself  he  seeks  in  a  nature 
that  is  foreign  to  Him.  Why  should  this  infinitely 
abounding  Nature  be  willing  to  borrow  ?  That  He 
may  be  enriched  by  humility^  which  is  what  the  Son  of 
God  came  into  this  world  to  seek.  He  was  made 
man  in  order  that  His  Father  might  behold  in  His 
person  a  God  subject  to  obedience. 

That  this  was  indeed  His  purpose  we  can  see  for 
ourselves,  in  Holy  Scripture's  words  about  the  first 
thing  He  did  on  entering  the  world  at  His  sacred 
Incarnation.  St.  Paul,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
shows  that  the  first  act,  the  first  thought,  and  the  first 
movement  in  the  will  of  the  God-man,  constituted  an 
act  of  obedience.  Here  are  the  Apostle's  words  : — 
"  Wherefore,  when  He  cometh  into  the  world  "  : — 
observe,  "when  He  cometh": — ingrediens  : — "He 
saith :  sacrifice  and  oblation  Thou  wouldest  not ;  .  .  . 
Holocausts  for  sin  did  not  please  Thee.     Then  said 


74         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

I,  behold  I  come "  :  and  why  ?  Because :  "  in  the 
head  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  Me  that  I  should 
do  Thy  will,  O  God".^  Here  we  are  told  in  formal 
terms  that  the  first  act  of  the  Son  of  God  is  one  of 
submission  and  humility:  Eccc  venio,  ut  faciam,  Deus, 
voluntatem  tuant. 

Looking  further  into  the  matter  we  shall  find  a 
second  instance  of  His  love  for  humility  in  that  choice 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  above  referred  to,  as  the  Temple 
wherein  to  offer  His  first  vows  of  obedience  to  His 
heavenly  Father.  We  shall  see  that  the  Word  Who 
had  so  deeply  abased  and  humbled  Himself  chose,  on 
taking  flesh,  to  inhabit  only  a  dwelling  that  was  pre- 
pared for  Him  by  humility.  Here,  again,  Scripture 
declares  the  fact ;  for  what  does  it  say  of  Mary's 
interview  with  the  angel  who  announced  the  great 
miracle  to  her  ?  It  records  only  two  sayings  of 
hers  ;  and,  of  these,  one  guards  her  chastity  and  the 
other  expresses  her  deep  humility.  The  beauty 
and  significance  of  the  first  of  these  sayings  has 
been  dwelt  upon  in  treating  of  Mary's  Concep- 
tion ;  ^  but  her  exquisite  virginal  purity  did  not 
suffice,  alone,  to  prepare  the  Temple  into  which  the 
Most  High  was  to  descend :  something  more  was 
needed. 

Gabriel  replies  to  her  doubt  by  declaring  the  marvel- 
lous privilege  that  is  to  be  hers :  "  The  Holy  Ghost 

1  Hebr.  x.  5,  6,  7. 

2  Vide  Sermon  i,  on  the  "  Grounds  of  Devotion  ", 


For  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation.      75 

shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Most 
High  shall  overshadow  thee".^  And  what  follows? 
Certainly  the  most  wonderful  instance  of  humility  and 
self-repression  that  the  world  has  ever  seen  ;  for  Mary 
is  not  for  one  moment  carried  away  by  either  joy  or 
elation  at  the  mysterious  dignity  conferred  upon  her. 
She  utters  not  one  word  beyond  a  simple  enunciation  of 
her  submission  to  the  Will  of  God.  "  Behold  the  hand- 
maid of  the  Lord.  Be  it  done  unto  me  according  to 
Thy  word." ^  Then,  at  once,  the  Heavens  are  opened : — 
the  Son  of  the  Most  High,  begotten  by  Him  from 
all  Eternity,  is  conceived  in  the  Virgin's  Womb : — 
and  this  great  miracle  is  possible  because  that  Virgin's 
humility  has  made  her  capable  of  receiving  "  Him 
whom  the  Heavens  cannot  contain" — Immensity 
Itself. 

With  this  truth  before  us,  need  we  wonder  if  God 
seems  far  off  from  man,  or  slow  to  bestow  His  graces  ? 
For  lowly  hearts  are  hard  to  find  on  earth ;  and  not 
even  the  sight  of  a  God  Who  has  taken  on  Him  the 
form  of  a  servant — who  has  actually  made  Himself 
nought  for  us — seems  able  to  bring  down  our  pride. 
Yet,  if  we  would  but  learn  to  realise  the  extraordinary 
grandeur  of  God  as  shown  in  the  utter  abasement  of 
the  Incarnation,  we  should  long  to  share  in  Mary's 
true  glory  by  acknowledging  the  absolute  nothingness 
whence  we  come,  and  bringing  Him  down  into  our 
hearts  by  our  genuine  humility. 

1  Luke  i.  35.  ""  Ibid.,  38. 


76         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 


2. 

But  if  Mary's  deep  lowliness,  which  makes  her 
humble  herself  the  more  because  of  her  great  dignity, 
confers  on  her  the  glory  of  becoming  the  chosen  habi- 
tation of  her  Maker  in  His  own  humiliation,  it  is  still 
not  her  only  greatness.  God  chooses  her  also  as  the 
means  of  giving  Himself  to  man:  a  second  "new 
thing"  not  less  surprising  than  the  first.  Having  con- 
sidered the  wonder  of  the  voluntary  subjection  of  a 
Supreme  Ruler,  we  must  now  behold  the  One  Sole 
and  Incomparable  Being  taking  to  Himself  companions 
and  associating  with  men,  which  is  to-day's  Mystery. 
To  understand  this  new  marvel  we  must  try  to  con- 
ceive a  vivid  idea  of  that  perfect  unity  of  God  which 
makes  Him  infinite,  incommunicable,  and  singular, 
in  His  whole  being.  He  is  the  only  Wise  One,  the 
only  Blessed  One  ;  King  of  kings.  Lord  of  lords  ;  alone 
in  His  Majesty,  inaccessible  on  His  throne,  to  be  com- 
pared with  none  in  power.  Man  has  no  language 
strong  enough  fitly  to  express  this  unity ;  but  some 
words  of  Tertullian's  perhaps  give  as  true  an  idea  of  it 
as  is  possible  to  human  weakness.  He  calls  God  "  the 
Supreme  Great  One " :  Summum  Magnum ;  but  says 
that  "  He  is  supreme  only  because  He  surpasses  every- 
"  thing  else  ;  and  thus,  suffering  naught  that  is  His 
"  equal,  leaves  so  far  behind  all  that  might  be  com- 


For  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation.      yy 

"  pared  to  Him  that  He  makes  a  solitude  for  Himself 
"  out  of  His  singular  excellence  "} 

If  this  seems  a  strange  way  of  speaking,  it  is  because 
Tertullian,  used  to  strong  language,  seeks  for  new  terms 
by  which  to  describe  a  quite  unexampled  greatness. 
What  can  be  more  majestic  or  grand  than  the  solitude 
of  God  ?  We  can  only  conceive  of  It  as  self-contained, 
hidden  within  Its  own  light,  separated  from  all  things 
by  Its  own  immensity  :  unlike  all  human  grandeur — 
in  which  there  is  always  some  weakness  or  a  low  side 
as  well  as  a  high  one — being  equally  strong  and  in- 
accessible on  all  sides.  What  a  marvellous  sight,  then, 
to  see  this  solitary  and  Incomparable  One  come  forth 
from  His  august  loneliness  to  adopt  companions  ;  and 
these  companions,  sinful  mortals  : — for  "  nowhere  doth 
"  He  take  hold  of  angels " :  ^  non  angelos  apprehendit. 
He  did  not  stop  short  at  the  angels,  though  they  may 
be  called  the  beings  nearest  to  Him.  He  strode  as 
a  giant  :  "  leaping  upon  the  mountains,"  ^  says  Holy 
Writ :  that  is,  passing  by  the  angelic  choirs.  He 
sought  out  human  nature — relegated  by  the  mere  fact 
of  its  mortality  to  the  lowest  rank  in  the  universe,  and 
which  had  added  the  estrangement  of  sin  to  inequality 
of  condition  : — laid  hold  of  it,  and  united  it  to  Himself, 
soul  and  body.     He  made  Himself  a  flesh  like  unto 

^  "  Summum  victoria  sua  constat.  Atque  ex  defectione  oemuli 
solitudinem  quandam  de  singularitate  praestantise  suae  possidens,  uni- 
cum  est." — Advers.  Marcion,  lib.  i.,  n.  3. 

2  Hebr.  ii.  16.  »  Cant.  ii.  8. 


yS         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

ours.  In  short,  God,  who  became  man  "  that  we  also 
might  have  fellowship  with  Him,"  ^  treated  with  us 
as  with  His  equals,  on  purpose  that  we  might  be  able 
to  treat  with  Him  as  with  ouy  equal :  Kx  cequo  agebat 
Deus  cum  homine,  ut  homo  agere  ex  cequo  cum  Deo  posset? 
Well  may  we  say :  "  For  what  other  nation  is  there  so 
great,  or  that  hath  Gods  so  nigh  them,  as  our  God  is 
present  to  our  petitions  ?  "  ^ 

Much  more  time  might  be  given  to  considering  this 
wondrous  act  of  condescension,  if  the  Mystery  of  to- 
day did  not  make  it  fitting  to  turn  our  attention 
specially  to  Mary's  share  in  it.  If  the  Incarnation 
bestows  an  enormous  benefit  on  our  human  nature, 
what  is  not  the  Blessed  Virgin's  glory  in  being  made 
the  means  of  Christ's  union  with  that  nature?  He 
enters  this  world  through  her,  and  makes  her  the  link 
of  His  blessed  fellowship  with  us.  Further,  having 
chosen  her  for  such  a  ministry.  He  sends  one  of  His 
highest  angels  as  His  spokesman  to  her,  as  if  to  ask 
her  consent.  The  secret  of  this  great  mystery  may  be 
found  in  the  Order  of  God's  Decrees,  as  He  Himself 
has  revealed  them  to  us. 

Scripture,  and  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  ages, 
teaches  that  in  the  adorable  mystery  of  our  redemption 
it  had  always  been  determined  by  Divine  Providence 
to  use  for  our  salvation  all  that  had  been  used  for  our 
ruin.     The  reasons  for  this  are  too  long  to  be  entered 

^  John  i.  3,  6.  ^  Tertull.,  advers.  Marcion,  lib.  ii.,  n.  27. 

^  Deut.  iv.  7. 


For  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation.      79 

upon  here  ;  it  must  be  enough  for  me  to  say,  in  a  word, 
that  God  chose  to  destroy  our  enemy  by  turning  his 
plots  back  on  his  own  head,  and  letting  his  own 
weapons — so  to  speak — be  the  undoing  of  him. 

Hence,  Faith  teaches  us  that  if  we  were  lost  through 
a  man,  we  are  also  saved  by  one.  Death  reigns  in 
Adam's  race,  and  life  is  born  of  the  same  race  ;  God 
uses  as  the  remedy  for  our  sin  that  very  Death  which 
was  its  punishment ;  the  Tree  both  kills  and  cures 
us ;  and  we  see  in  the  Holy  Eucharist  that  a  saving 
act  of  eating  repairs  the  evil  wrought  by  a  rash  act  of 
the  same  kind.  According  to  this  wonderful  dispen- 
sation, so  clearly  traceable  throughout  the  work  of  our 
salvation,  it  is  necessary  that  as  both  sexes  took  part 
in  the  ruin  of  our  nature,  both  should  concur  in  its 
deliverance.  Tertullian  taught  this  in  the  earliest 
centuries,  in  the  book  on  The  Flesh  of  Jesus  Christ 
Speaking  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  he  says  that  "  what 
had  been  lost  by  this  sex  must  be  restored  by  the 
same  sex  ".^  St.  Irenaeus  the  Martyr  ^  said  the  same 
before  him,  and  St.  Augustine  ^  after  him  ;  and  all  the 
holy  Fathers  have  agreed  in  teaching  the  same  doc- 
trine. Therefore  the  conclusion  is  clear  that  it  was 
undoubtedly  fitting  for  God  to  predestine  a  new  Eve 
as  well  as  a  new  Adam  ;  so  as  to  bestow  upon  earth, 
in  place  of  the  old  condemned  race,  a  new  posterity 
to  be  sanctified  by  grace. 

^  De  Cam.  Ckr.,  n.  17.      ^  Contr.  Hares.,  lib.  v.,  cap.  xix.,  p.  316. 
'  De  Symb.  ad  Catech.,  Serm.  iii.,  cap.  iv.,  torn,  vi.,  col.  571. 


8o         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

And  certainly,  if  we  ponder  in  our  heart  the  un- 
searchable decrees  of  Providence  concerning  the  re- 
habilitation of  our  nature,  and  carefully  compare  Eve 
with  Mary,  this  old  and  sacred  doctrine  will  come  out 
with  convincing  clearness.  I  will  but  shortly  quote 
here  the  words  used  by  the  Fathers  in  showing  the 
correspondence  between  them. 

The  work  of  our  corruption  began  in  Eve,  the  work 
of  our  restoration  in  Mary ;  the  word  of  Death  was 
carried  to  Eve,  the  word  of  Life  to  Mary;  Eve  was 
still  a  virgin,  and  Mary  is  a  virgin  ;  Eve,  whilst  yet  a 
virgin,  had  her  spouse,  and  the  "  Virgin  of  virgins " 
has  also  hers.  A  curse  was  pronounced  on  Eve,  a  bless- 
ing on  Mary : — Benedicta  tu}  An  angel  of  darkness 
accosts  Eve,  an  angel  of  light  speaks  to  Mary.  The 
angel  of  darkness  offers  to  raise  Eve  to  false  greatness, 
by  making  her  aim  at  divinity : — "  You  shall  be,"  he 
declares,  "  as  Gods  "}  The  angel  of  light  places  Mary 
in  a  state  of  true  greatness  by  a  holy  union  with  God: — 
"The  Lord  is  with  thee,"  Gabriel  says  to  her.^  The 
angel  of  darkness,  speaking  to  Eve,  inspires  her  with 
a  plan  of  rebellion: — "Why  hath  God  commanded 
you  that  you  should  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  Para- 
dise ?  "  ^  The  angel  of  light,  speaking  to  Mary,  per- 
suades her  to  obedience  : — "  Fear  not,  Mary  "  :  and 
"  no  word  shall  be  impossible  with  God  ".^  Eve  be- 
lieved the  serpent,  and  Mary  the  angel.     "  Thus,"  says 

^  Luke  i.  42.  2  Gen.  iii.  5.  *  Luke  i.  28. 

*  Gen.  iii.  i.  '  Luke  i.  30,  37. 


For  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation.      8 1 

Tertullian/  "  an  act  of  devout  faith  blotted  out  a  fault 
of  rash  credulity,  and  Mary  repaired,  by  believing  in 
God,  what  Eve  had  destroyed  by  believing  in  the  devil." 

Then,  to  complete  the  mystery,  Eve — seduced  by 
the  evil  one — is  compelled  to  flee  before  the  face  of 
God  ;  whilst  Mary — taught  by  the  angel — is  made 
worthy  to  bear  her  God.  Eve  having  presented  us 
with  the  fruit  of  death,  Mary  presents  us  with  the 
fruit  of  life,  in  order — says  St.  Irenaeus  ^ — "  that  the 
Virgin  Mary  might  be  the  advocate  of  the  virgin  Eve".^ 

So  exact  a  correspondence  is  no  mere  invention  of 
the  human  intellect.  It  makes  one  unable  to  doubt 
that  Mary  is  the  most  blessed  Eve  of  the  new  Cove- 
nant, having  the  same  share  in  our  salvation  that  Eve 
had  in  our  destruction — that  is,  the  share  next  to  that 
of  Jesus  Christ : — Mother  of  all  the  living,  as  Eve  was 
of  all  mortals.  The  wonderful  order  of  God's  own 
designs — the  fittingness  of  things  so  clearly  set  forth 
— the  necessary  connection  of  all  His  mysteries  with 
each  other — alike  convince  us  of  its  positive  truth. 

And  yet  the  brethren  who  have  left  us  cannot  bear 
us  to  believe  that  Mary  is,  after  Jesus  Christ,  the  prin- 

^  De  Came  Christi,  n.  17. 
^  Cont.  HcBres.,  lib.  v.,  cap.  xix.,  p.  316. 

^  These  comparisons  of  Mary  with  Eve,  and  the  language  of  the 
Fathers  on  the  subject,  is  gone  into  very  fully  in  chapter  x.  of  Dr. 
Ullathorne's  book,  cited  in  Note  on  Conception  Sermon.  Perhaps 
the  whole  doctrine  could  hardly  be  more  fully  and  tersely  expresse4 
than  by  the  rhyme  of  an  old  English  mystery  play : — 
"Man  for  Man,  Tree  for  Tree, 
Maid  for  Maid — so  shall  it  be  |  " 

6 


82  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

cipal  co-operator  in  our  salvation  !  What,  then,  will 
they  do  if  they  destroy  this  connection  between  the 
mysteries  of  God  ?  How  will  they  account  for  His 
sending  His  angel  to  her  ?  Surely,  He  could  have  done 
His  work  in  her  without  gaining  her  consent,  if  it  had 
not  clearly  been  in  the  Counsel  of  the  Father  that 
she  should  co-operate  in  our  salvation  and  her  Son's 
Incarnation,  by  her  obedience  and  charity?  Is  it 
likely,  either,  that  when  her  motherly  love  was  so 
much  concerned  in  our  happiness  through  the  Mystery 
of  the  Incarnation,  that  love  should  have  now  become 
barren,  and  ceased  working  for  us  ? 

If  there  are  any  here  present  who  have  broken  with 
us,  let  me  ask  them  whether  they  have  left  the  Com- 
munion within  which  their  fathers  lived  and  died  in 
the  Love  of  Christ,  because  they  hold  us  guilty  of  a 
crime  for  begging  the  help  of  Mary?  If  so,  we  can 
only  reply  that  the  whole  Church  Catholic  will  never 
cease  to  say  :  Ad  te  clamamus,  exules  filii  Hevae  !  for 
she  who  has  been  pronounced,  by  the  earliest  doctrine 
of  the  Fathers,  to  be  the  advocate  of  Eve  herself,  must 
certainly  always  remain  the  helper  of  Eve's  posterity: — 
Advocata  nostra;  and  from  her  who  was  appointed  to 
counteract  the  poison  of  that  deadly  fruit  given  to  us 
by  our  first  Mother,  we  shall  always  continue  to  ask 
and  to  receive  the  fruit  of  life  : — "  The  blessed  fruit  of 
her  womb  "  : — Jesus,  Who  through  her  has  become  our 
brother  and  fellow-man  as  well  as  our  God,  that  from 
Him  we  may  learn  to  live  divinely. 


83 


VI. 

ON  THE  FEAST  OF  THE  VISITATION. 

"  Intravit  in  domum  Zacharise,  et  salutavit  Elizabeth  " 
(St.  Luke  i.  40). 

The  events  of  to-day's  mystery  bring  before  the 
faithful  in  a  peculiar  manner  the  fact  that  our  God 
is  a  hidden  God,  and  that  His  power  works  in  the  soul 
in  a  secret  and  impenetrable  manner.  Four  people  are 
concerned  in  the  occurrence  we  are  celebrating :  Jesus 
and  Mary ;  St.  John,  and  his  mother  St.  Elizabeth. 
Now,  it  is  most  remarkable  that  of  all  these  sacred 
personages  the  only  one  who  seems  to  perform  no 
particular  action  is  the  Son  of  God  Himself.  Eliza- 
beth, enlightened  from  on  high,  acknowledges  the 
Blessed  Virgin's  dignity  and  humbles  herself  deeply 
before  her  :  "  Whence  is  this  to  me  ? "  ^  John,  even 
within  Elizabeth's  womb,  feels  his  Divine  Master's 
presence,  and  shows  his  joy  in  a  wonderful  way :  he 
"  leaped  for  joy "?  Mary,  marvelling  at  the  great 
effects  of  Divine  Omnipotence  in  herself,  exalts  the 
holy  name  of  God  and  declares  His  munificence  in  her 

1  Luke  i.  48.  2  Ibid.,  44. 


84         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

behalf,  with  her  whole  heart.  But  all  this  time  Jesus 
Himself,  hidden  beneath  His  Mother's  breast,  gives  no 
sensible  sign  of  His  presence.  He,  who  is  the  cause 
of  the  whole  mystery,  takes  no  active  part  in  it. 

Strange  as  this  may  seem,  it  is  not  really  surprising. 
Our  Lord  here  hides  His  power  intentionally,  to  show 
us  how  He  is  the  invisible  force  that  moves  all  things 
without  moving  Himself,  and  directs  all  things  without 
showing  His  Hand.  Hence,  we  shall  find  that  though 
He  may  seem  to  be  passive  on  this  occasion  His  influ- 
ence is  fully  apparent  in  the  actions  of  the  rest,  whose 
movements  are  really  all  inspired  by  Him  alone. 

One  of  the  greatest  mysteries  of  Christianity  is  the 
holy  union  that  the  Son  of  God  forms  with  us,  and 
His  secret  way  of  visiting  us.  I  am  not  speaking  here 
of  those  special  communications  with  which  He  now 
and  then  honours  chosen  souls :  they  must  be  left  to 
the  teaching  of  spiritual  books  and  spiritual  directors. 
Besides  such  mysterious  intercourse  as  this,  there  are 
the  visits  paid  by  the  Son  of  God  every  day  to  the 
faithful  soul  ;  interiorly  by  His  Holy  Spirit  and  the 
inspirations  of  grace ;  exteriorly  by  His  Word,  His 
sacraments,  and  above  all  by  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Most  Holy  Eucharist.  It  is  of  great  consequence  to 
all  Christians  to  know  what  their  feelings  ought  to 
be  when  Jesus  Christ  visits  them  ;  and  the  Gospel  of 
to-day  appears  to  furnish  a  distinct  instruction  on  the 
subject.  If  we  would  thoroughly  enter  into  its  mean- 
ing, however,  we  must  notice  that  whenever  the  Son 


On  the  Feast  of  the   Visitation.  85 

of  God  comes  to  man  He  causes  these  successive 
movements  to  take  place  within  him.  The  first  thing 
He  does  is  to  inspire  the  soul  witli  an  overpowering 
sense  of  His  Majesty,  which  fills  it  with  awe  and  makes 
it  fear  and  tremble  at  the  thought  of  its  own  baseness 
— counting  itself  quite  unworthy  of  His  favours.  But 
God  cannot  stop  short  here;  for  if  this  first  feeling 
lasted  the  soul  would  never  dare  to  approach  Him  ; 
and  therefore  He  causes  the  second  movement,  which 
consists  in  an  intensity  of  holy  desires,  producing  a 
longing  in  the  soul  to  rise  up  and  come  near  to  its 
Saviour.  Then,  by-and-by,  comes  the  third  and  most 
perfect  operation  of  grace  : — namely,  the  full  answer  to 
these  ardent  wishes  in  the  complete  triumph  of  God's 
own  peace  within  the  heart,  as  the  Apostle  describes 
it :  Pax  Christi  exuUet  in  cordibus  vestris}  All  who 
are  deeply  experienced  in  spiritual  things  know  that 
grace  makes  progress  in  their  souls  by  these  three 
degrees : — that  it  prepares  them  by  humility,  draws 
them  on  by  ardour,  and  at  last  makes  them  perfect 
by  possession  of  that  Peace  of  Christ  which  passeth 
all  understanding. 

If  we  study  the  incidents  of  Mary's  visit  to  Elizabeth 
we  shall  find  all  these  states  of  soul  clearly  represented 
by  the  characters  that  appear  before  us,  and  who  all 
speak  and  act  through  the  secret  inspiration  of  Jesus. 

First,  then,  for  the  Christian  soul  to  feel  a  humble 
movement  of  real  abasement  when  her  Creator  visits 

^  Coloss.  iii.  15. 


86  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

her — to  offer  Him  the  tribute  of  acknowledging  her 
own  littleness — is  but  just  and  right.  This  is  why  the 
first  thing  that  God  does  when  He  comes  to  us  by 
grace  is  to  put  into  our  hearts  a  feeling  of  religious  fear 
that  makes  us,  as  it  were,  draw  back  from  Him  at  the 
mere  thought  of  how  little  we  are  worth.  Thus,  we 
read  in  St.  Luke's  Gospel  that  St.  Peter  had  no  sooner 
recognised  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  His  mira- 
culous works,  than  he  threw  himself  then  and  there 
at  His  feet  and  cried  :  "  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am 
a  sinful  man,  O  Lord ! "  ^  So,  again,  that  devout 
centurion  whom  Jesus  wished  to  honour  by  a  visit, 
being  taken  by  surprise  at  such  goodness  could  only 
express  his  feelings  by  acknowledging  himself  un- 
worthy :  Domine  non  sum  dignus?  And  what  do  we 
find  corresponding  to  these  feelings  in  the  passage  of 
Scripture  that  we  have  specially  to  study  now  ?  We 
learn  that  at  the  very  first  sight  of  Mary,  and  the  first 
sound  of  her  voice,  her  cousin  Elizabeth — having 
learnt  the  holy  maiden's  dignity,  and  seeing  by  faith 
the  God  Whom  she  bears  within  her — is  filled  with 
astonishment  and  confusion,  and  cries  out  "whence 
is  this  to  me,  that  the  Mother  of  my  Lord  should  come 
to  me  ?  " 

Now,  we  ought  to  engrave  the  example  of  humility 

and  respect  given  by  these  words  of  Elizabeth  deeply 

on  our  own  hearts  ;  and  we  can  only  do  this  by  trying 

to  enter  thoroughly  into  the  motives  that  compelled 

1  Luke  V,  8.  2  Matt.  viii.  8. 


On  the  F^east  of  the   Visitation.  87 

her  to  humble  herself  in  this  way.  Examining  the 
words  carefully,  and  reflecting  on  them,  we  find  two 
separate  thoughts  underlying  them  :  one  thought 
concerning  what  Elizabeth  already  knew,  and  one 
concerning  something  she  did  not  know.  She  saw 
that  the  Mother  of  her  Lord  had  come  to  visit  her — 
she  recognised  in  her  the  one  "  blessed  among  women," 
as  she  herself  was  shortly  to  proclaim — and  keenly 
felt  the  great  honour  done  to  her,  and  the  impossibility 
of  sufficiently  acknowledging  such  an  act  of  courtesy 
and  friendship  from  one  so  great  as  Mary  ;  and  so 
the  words  Mater  Domini  mei  explain  her  first  motive  for 
humbling  herself  profoundly  before  her  young  cousin. 
But  if  Elizabeth  was  fully  alive  to  the  honour  bestowed 
on  her  by  this  visit,  she  was  perfectly  ignorant  of  its 
cause  ;  and  herein  lay  the  second  ground  of  her  self- 
abasement,  for  she  could  see  absolutely  nothing  in 
herself  worthy  of  such  a  favour.  That  the  Blessed 
Virgin  had  hastened  over  the  hill-country  to  see  her 
was  a  fact ;  but  why  she  should  have  taken  the  journey 
at  such  a  moment  for  the  sake  of  one  who  could  think 
of  no  claim  on  her  condescension  was  an  overpower- 
ing mystery  to  Zachary's  holy  wife,  and  she  could 
only  express  the  wonder  it  caused  her  by  saying : 
unde  hoc  ? — whence  could  such  an  entirely  gratuitous 
act  of  condescension  proceed  ?  Not  understanding  it, 
all  she  could  do  was  to  make  an  offering  to  Christ, 
as  He  came  to  her  with  Mary,  of  a  humbled  heart 
with  a  confession  of  her  inability  to  do  more. 


88  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

In  short,  all  St.  Elizabeth's  thought,  on  an  occasion 
that  might  well  have  caused  self-complacency  in  a 
heart  that  contained  the  least  vanity  or  pride,  was 
that  first  she  possessed  nothing  by  which  she  could 
make  due  return  for  the  honour  thus  shown  to  her, 
and  that  secondly  she  in  nowise  deserved  it.  And 
what  other  motives  than  these  can  any  of  us  have  for 
serving  our  God  in  fear,  and  rejoicing  with  trembling 
in  His  presence?  For  who  so  poor  and  who  so  un- 
worthy as  we,  from  both  our  natural  condition  and  our 
own  sins  ?  Therefore,  when  God  deigns  to  look  upon 
us,  we  can  but  learn  from  Elizabeth  how  to  reverence 
His  supreme  greatness  by  fully  recognising  our  own 
nothingness,  and  to  acknowledge  His  benefits  by  con- 
fessing our  unworthiness. 

There  is  another  thought  that  will  greatly  help  to 
make  this  feeling  a  reality  and  not  a  mere  matter  of 
words.  When  men  receive  favours  from  one  another, 
no  matter  how  great  an  inequality  there  may  be 
between  the  one  who  confers  and  the  one  who  re- 
ceives a  benefit  or  honour,  nevertheless  both  are  but 
creatures ;  and  consequently  the  higher  of  the  two, 
be  he  great  as  he  may,  must  have  some  limit  to  his 
greatness  which  prevents  his  superiority  from  being 
absolute,  because  it  is  common  to  both :  for  what 
creature  is  without  limitations  ?  Hence  no  human 
being,  conferring  honours  on  a  fellow-man,  can  feel 
that  the  recipient  of  his  favours  is  so  utterly  beneath 
him  as  to  have  no  claim  whatever  on  his  condescen- 


On  the  Feast  of  the   Visitation.  89 

sion.  But  not  so  with  God.  Between  Him  and  His 
creatures  there  can  be  absolutely  no  equality.  He  is 
solitary  and  supreme  in  greatness  :  the  only  Being  to 
whom  we  can  say:  "Lord,  who  is  like  to  Thee?^ 
Glorious  in  holiness,  terrible  and  praiseworthy,  doing 
wonders " ;  ^  the  only  One  Who  is  singular  and  un- 
approachable in  all  things.  If,  then.  He  is  so  majes- 
tically great,  woe  be  to  those  who  vain-gloriously 
lift  their  proud  heads  before  Him  ;  for  He  will  put 
such  mighty  ones  down  from  their  seat.  But  blessed 
be  the  humble  souls  who  cry  with  the  prophet,  when 
they  feel  the  touch  of  grace,  "  What  is  man  that  Thou 
art  mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man  that  Thou 
visitest  Him  ?  "  ^  Because  they  hide  themselves,  His 
face  shall  enlighten  them  ;  because  they  draw  back 
through  reverence.  He  will  seek  them  out ;  because 
they  fall  at  His  feet.  His  Spirit  of  Peace  shall  rest 
upon  them. 

Once  more : — the  visit  that  so  honoured  and  over- 
whelmed Elizabeth  had  not  been  sought  by  her : 
part  of  the  very  honour  consisted  in  the  fact  that 
Mary  had  paid  it  of  her  own  accord,  and  had  thus  fore- 
stalled her  cousin  in  respect.  Wonderful  to  relate,  our 
God  treats  us.  His  poor  creatures,  in  the  same  way. 
Whether  the  sinner  who  needs  converting,  or  the  just 
who  is  called  to  a  higher  life  and  the  way  of  perfection, 
be  concerned,  He  alike  comes  without  waiting  for  us 
to  ask  Him.    We  are  often  not  thinking  of  Him  speci- 

^  Ps.  xxxiv.  10.  2  Exod.  xv.  2.  ^  Ps.  viii.  5. 


90         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

ally  at  all — we  may  have  even  actually  forgotten  Him  ; 
but  He  seek^  us  out — goes  before  us — or,  as  sacred 
language  has  it,  "prevents"  us  :  we  feel  and  know  His 
grace,  suddenly  present  with  us,  as  the  Baptist  knew 
it  in  his  mother's  womb,  when  we  have  done  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  call  it  down. 

There  is,  then,  but  one  thing  to  be  done  in  face  of 
the  unspeakable  graciousness  of  the  Creator  : — that 
same  thing  which  won  the  primacy  of  the  Church  for 
Peter,  the  first  place  as  preacher  for  Paul,  and  the 
oflfice  of  Precursor  to  Christ  Himself  for  Elizabeth's 
son  : — to  humble  ourselves  as  deeply  as  we  know  how, 
at  sight  of  God's  goodness  and  our  utter  unworthiness. 
When  we  have  done  this,  and  done  it  too  with  such 
genuine  self-abasement  that  we  feel  actually  afraid  in 
God's  presence,  and  inclined  to  draw  back  at  His 
approach,  there  should  gradually  rise  within  us  a 
quite  other  feeling.  The  faithful  soul  who  has  clearly 
seen  her  own  lowliness  goes  on  to  experience  a  pure 
transport  of  longing  which  impels  her  to  seek  union 
with  her  God.  This  assertion  may  sound  presump- 
tuous or  unreasonable,  as  a  sequel  to  such  thoughts  of 
God's  immeasurable  distance  from  man  as  I  have  been 
uttering  ;  but  it  is  true ;  and  we  are  actually  bound 
to  believe  that  we  poor  creatures  may  raise  our  desires 
even  so  high  as  to  union  with  our  Maker.  In  a  former 
sermon  I  used  an  expression  of  Tertullian's  to  set 
forth  in  strong  terms  the  supreme  solitude  and  aloof- 
ness of  God.     I  have  now  to  dwell  on  His  attribute 


On  the  Feast  of  the   Visitation.  9 1 

of  Goodness,  which  is  just  as  inconceivable  as  His 
Greatness,  and  which  brings  Him  near  to  us  ;  and  to 
express  this  I  will  use  some  words  uttered  by  St. 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  surnamed  "  the  Theologian  "  by 
the  Greeks,  on  account  of  his  lofty  conceptions  of  the 
Divine  Nature. 

This  great  man,  after  calling  on  the  whole  world  to 
desire  God  because  of  His  infinite  Goodness  which 
loves  to  pour  itself  forth,  and  after  dwelling  fully  on 
the  subject,  concludes  thus : — "  This  God  longs  to  he 
longed  for  :  He  thirsts,  if  you  will  but  believe  it,  in 
the  midst  of  His  abundance.  But  for  what  does  the 
Supreme  Being  thirst?  It  is  that  men  may  thirst  for 
Him  :  sitit  sitiri.  Infinite  as  He  is  in  Himself,  and 
filled  with  His  own  riches,  we  can  nevertheless  do  Him 
a  favour — and  how  ?  By  wishing  Him  to  do  us  one  ; 
because  He  is  more  ready  to  give  than  others  are  to 
receive."  ^ 

Divine  Goodness  may  indeed  be  likened  to  a  clear- 
flowing  stream  which  seems  to  beg  of  the  passers-by 
one  thing  only : — to  stop  and  drink,  or  cleanse  and 
refresh  themselves  in  its  waters.  In  like  manner  the 
nature  of  God,  which  can  never  grow  or  lessen  because 
of  its  fulness,  may  be  said  with  all  reverence  to  lack 
but  one  thing,  which  is  that  we  should  come  and  draw 
from  It  the  waters  of  Eternal  Life,  whose  inexhaustible 
source  it  is.  Thus  St.  Gregory  is  justified  in  saying 
that  our  Creator  thirsts  for  our  desires,  and  receives 

^  Orat.  xi.,  torn,  i.,  p.  657. 


92         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

as  a  benefit  the  power  we  bestow  on  Him  of  doing 
good  to  us. 

This  being  so,  it  is  insulting  His  bounty  not  to  long 
to  be  the  recipients  of  It.  The  transports  of  St.  John 
within  his  mother's  womb  are  caused  by  longing.  He 
sees  that  his  master  has  come  to  visit  him,  and  he 
would  fain  go  forth  to  receive  Him.  Holy  love  and 
ardent  desires  impel  him  to  try  to  break  his  bonds  by 
an  impetuous  movement.  But  he  desires  liberty  for 
one  thing  only — that  he  may  fly  to  his  Saviour  ;  and 
feels  the  restraint  of  his  prison  merely  because  it  keeps 
him  from  doing  so. 

We  have  therefore  good  reason  for  invoking  the 
holy  Baptist  as  our  helper  in  learning  to  long  ardently 
for  the  Saviour  of  souls.  He  was  appointed  to  prepare 
His  ways,  and  his  special  ministry  on  earth  was  to 
make  Jesus  Christ  be  fervently  desired  by  men. 
Another  St.  John  has  clearly  explained  this  mission 
in  his  Gospel,  and  we  should  carefully  attend  to  his 
words :  "  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God  whose 
name  was  John  :  this  man  was  not  the  light,  but  he 
came  to  bear  witness  of  the  light "  : — that  is,  of  Jesus 
Christ,  "  the  Light  that  enlighteneth  every  man  that 
Cometh  into  the  world  ".^  This  seems  a  strange  way 
of  speaking :  to  say  that  St.  John  the  Baptist,  who  is 
not  the  light,  should  discover  to  us  Jesus  Christ  Who 
M  the  Light  Itself.  Still  it  is  the  truth — as  the  Gospel 
goes  on  to  say  in  the  case  of  Our  Lord — that  our 

1  John  i.  8,  9. 


On  the  Feast  of  the   Visitation.  93 

spiritual  eyes  often  fail  to  see  the  light  that  is  shining 
brightly  in  our  midst,  until  some  lesser  light  shows 
it  to  us.  St.  Augustine  draws  out  an  analogy  between 
this  kind  of  spiritual  blindness  and  our  physical  sight, 
which  he  says  "  takes  a  torch  to  look  for  the  daylight"  •} 
that  is,  which  is  often  so  weak  that  it  needs  a  feeble 
light,  such  as  it  can  easily  bear,  to  prepare  it  for  the 
glare  of  noon  :  and  this  especially  if  the  eye  has  been 
for  a  time  altogether  excluded  from  light.  St.  John 
was  raised  up  to  lead  men,  who  had  lost  the  light  of 
truth,  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ ;  and  he  was  to  do 
this  by  acting  as  a  torch,  that  should  first  attract  them 
by  its  own  lesser  brightness,  then  make  them  wish  for 
greater  light,  and  so  gradually  guide  them  into  the  full 
blaze  of  day. 

This  being  the  work  of  the  Precursor,  he  is  to  begin 
it  from  the  first  moment  that  the  Master,  Whose  way 
he  is  to  prepare,  comes  near  him.  This  is  why  Jesus 
gives  no  sensible  sign  of  His  presence  on  this  visit, 
but  leaves  it  to  be  proclaimed  by  the  miraculous 
movement  of  the  unborn  child  at  His  approach.  As 
the  rising  sun  shows  his  splendour  on  the  clouds 
before  he  appears  himself,  so  Our  Lord  first  calls  our 
attention  to  His  coming  by  the  light  and  warmth  He 
sheds  on  St.  John,  whose  instant  turning  to  the  Sun 
of  Justice  as  He  feels  His  rays  is  intended  as  a  call 
to  us  to  rise  up  and  go  to  meet  our  God  by  holy 
desires, 

^  In  jfoan.  Tract,  ii,,  n.  8, 


94         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

The  special  office  of  St.  John,  then,  on  the  great 
occasion  of  Mary's  visit  to  his  mother,  is  to  show,  by 
his  eager  response  to  the  hidden  influence  of  his 
Saviour,  how  the  humble  soul  that  has  seen  and  felt 
the  light  and  touch  of  grace  should  trust  absolutely  to 
the  Love  that  has  come  to  seek  it  out,  and  should 
return  It  by  confidently  forming  the  most  ardent  long- 
ings for  union  with  its  Maker.  We,  who  have  the  un- 
speakable happiness  of  possessing  that  wondrous  mode 
of  union  with  Christ,  the  Holy  Eucharist,  should  blush 
indeed  at  our  frequent  backwardness  to  take  advan- 
tage of  such  a  gift.  How  poor  and  feeble  our  desires 
appear  by  those  of  David  !  He  knew  his  Redeemer 
only  by  expectation,  but  could  yet  cry  out :  "  My  soul 
hath  thirsted  after  the  strong  living  God — when  shall 
I  come  and  appear  before  the  face  of  God  ?  "  ^  Would 
we  but  realise  our  privilege,  and  hunger  and  thirst 
for  this  Divine  Food  as  we  ought — counting  nothing 
of  value  compared  to  our  union  with  Jesus — He  would 
speedily  satisfy  our  longings  by  that  Peace  which 
Mary  herself  typifies  on  the  Feast  we  are  celebrating. 
She,  indeed,  must  be  in  perfect  peace ;  for,  whilst  all 
those  who  greet  her  arrival  are  but  receiving  the  grace 
and  call  of  Jesus  Christ  through  her,  she  actually 
possesses  Him.  He  lies  beneath  her  heart ;  and  the 
intense  peace  and  joy  that  this  gives  her  she  pours 
forth  in  her  glorious  hymn.  "My  soul,"  she  cries, 
on  hearing  Elizabeth's  greeting,  "doth  magnify  the 
^  Psalm  xli. 


On  the  Feast  of  the   Visitation.  95 

Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my 
Saviour ! "  ^ 

Now,  if  we  study  the  Magnificat  carefully,  we  shall 
find  that  its  words  throughout  appear  especially 
intended  to  fill  our  hearts  with  love  for  the  Peace 
bestowed  by  God.  For  this  marvellous  Canticle  first 
shows  what  is  the  only  real  principle  of  Divine  Peace 
in  the  soul ;  then  it  goes  on  to  declare  the  destruction 
of  all  things  that  can  oppose  or  destroy  its  reign  ;  and 
lastly — lest  weak  souls  should  grow  discouraged  or 
doubtful  from  finding  the  complete  triumph  of  grace 
delayed  till  the  next  world — the  hymn  ends  with  the 
consoling  reminder  of  God's  fidelity  to  His  promises 
which  is  to  keep  our  hearts  in  peace  by  strengthening 
our  trust. 

Mary  sets  forth  the  true  Principle  of  Holy  Peace 
— its  only  real  cause  in  the  soul — when  she  tells 
us  why  her  spirit  rejoiced :  "  because  He  hath  re- 
garded the  humility  of  His  handmaid".  It  is  because 
God  has  looked  upon  her,  because  He  has  deigned 
to  cast  His  eyes  upon  His  humble  servant  and 
to  consider  her,  that  she  is  in  peace.  This  "  look " 
cast  upon  His  creature  by  the  Creator,  this  show- 
ing of  His  Divine  countenance,  has  indeed  always 
been  the  cause  of  the  just  man's  peace ;  and  in 
Holy  Writ  God  is  described  as  looking  upon  His 
people  in  two  separate  ways :  with  the  Look  of 
favour  and  benevolence,^  and  the  Look  of  help  and 
^  Luke  i.  46,  47.  2  Psalm  xxxii.  i8. 


96         Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

protection.^  Now  Mary,  who  has  had  greater  grace 
than  any  other  Creature  bestowed  on  her,  and  who 
possesses  Christ  in  a  manner  that  no  one  else  can 
possess  Him,  shows  by  the  next  words  of  her  Hymn 
that  God  has  regarded  her  in  both  these  ways ;  for 
she  says  that  He  Who  is  mighty  has  "done  great 
things "  in  her  —  which  is  looking  upon  her  with 
great  favour ;  and  that  He  has  "  showed  might  in 
His  arm" — which  is  bestowing  on  her  the  Look  of 
help  and  protection :  that  is,  protection  from  all 
spiritual  evil  by  driving  away  from  her  (as  we  have 
seen  that  He  did  in  her  Conception)  the  curses 
consequent  on  sin.  Such  was  the  manner  in  which 
God  had  shown  His  Face  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
and  had  caused  her  heart  to  exult ;  and  in  like 
manner — with  this  doubly  gracious  Look — does  He 
show  It  to  all  holy  and  innocent  souls  to  whom  He 
gives  His  own  Peace.  This  is  a  hidden  peace,  as 
Jesus  was  hidden  within  Mary  at  Zachary's  house : 
a  peace  that  the  world  cannot  understand,  for  it  is 
driven  away  by  its  tumult  to  find  a  home  in  the  calm 
and  solitude  of  pure  hearts.  It  is  indeed  impossible 
to  describe,  for  it  can  be  truly  known  only  by  experi- 
ence. But  wherever  it  may  take  up  its  abode — 
whether  in  chosen  souls  living  a  secular  life,  or  in 
those  within  the  cloister — it  always  has  the  same 
enemies ;  and  those  are  the  false  peace  and  the  false 
joys  whose  certain  destruction  by  God  Mary  proclaims 

'  Psalm  xxxii.,  19,  20. 


On  the  Feast  of  the   Visitation.  97 

in  the  next  part  of  her  Canticle.  She  knows  so  well 
that  the  victory  is  to  be  with  God  in  the  end,  that  she 
declares — as  the  Just  who  look  at  God's  side  of  things 
and  not  at  the  world's,  always  do — not  that  He  will 
act  by-and-by,  but  that  He  has,  "  scattered  the  proud," 
"  put  down  the  mighty,"  and  "  sent  away  the  rich  "  ; 
whilst  He  has  correspondingly  favoured  the  humble 
and  the  poor.  This  strange  opposition  between  God 
and  the  World  will  go  on  as  long  as  time  shall  last, 
and  will  show  itself  with  regard  to  every  person  and 
thing : — what  wins  the  favour  and  love  of  God  being 
always  the  exact  reverse  of  what  pleases  and  satisfies 
the  spirit  of  the  World.  But  the  true  Children  of 
Christ  will  not  lose  their  peace  of  soul,  nevertheless. 
They  will  despise,  and  even  mock  at,  the  apparent 
triumph  of  mere  human  ideas  and  worldly  pomp  and 
greatness,  and  will  ever  sing  in  their  hearts  the  Can- 
ticle of  God's  real  triumph.  They  will  not  forget  that 
earth  is  but  a  place  of  exile,  and  the  speech  of  its 
inhabitants  but  a  foreign  language  to  those  who 
know  where  is  their  true  Country;  and  hence  their 
natural  mode  of  expression  will  be  the  Songs  of 
Zion,  and  not  those  of  Babylon  ;  and  in  the  midst 
of  tumult  they  will  think  thoughts  of  peace  and  not 
of  affliction. 

But,  if  their  hearts  should  ever  seem  to  fail  them — if 
the  time  should  seem  long,  and  the  universal  triumph 
of  Christ  discouragingly  delayed,  so  that  their  souls  feel 
faint  within  them — then  they  will  again  listen  to  Mary 

7 


98  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

and  learn  of  her,  as  she  closes  her  grand  Magnificat  with 
the  fervent  act  of  Faith  in  the  Promises  of  her  Maker : 
"  He  hath  received  Israel  His  servant,  being  mindful 
of  His  mercy  ;  as  He  spoke  to  our  fathers,  to  Abraham 
and  his  seed  for  ever  ". 


99 


VII. 

THE  HIDDENNESS  AND  POVERTY  OF  JESUS  AND  MARY. 

(Preached  on  a  Feast  of  the  Purification.) 

"  Postquam  impleti  sunt  dies  purgationis  ejus  secundum  legem 
Moysi,  tulerunt  ilium  in  Jerusalem,  ut  sisterent  cum 
Domino,  sicut  scriptum  est  in  lege  Domini  "  (Luke  ii. 
22,  23). 

The  act  which  we  call  the  "  Purification  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin "  really  includes  under  one  common  name 
three  different  ceremonies  of  the  Old  Law.  These 
three  ceremonies  have  all  mysteries  hidden  beneath 
them  ;  and  I  propose  to  take  the  opportunity  of  the 
Feast  for  giving  some  explanation  of  these  mysteries, 
which  are  very  beautiful  ones,  and  bring  out  certain 
aspects  of  the  life  of  both  Mary  and  her  Divine  Son 
in  a  very  touching  way. 

Two  of  these  ceremonies,  commanded  by  the  law 
of  Moses,  depended  on  the  fact  that  women  after 
childbirth  were  counted  by  this  law  to  be  unclean, 
and  hence  were  required  by  God  to  withdraw  from 
the  Temple  and  from  intercourse  with  their  fellows 
for  a  time  ;  and  after  that  to  present  themselves  at 


lOO       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

the  door  of  the  tabernacle  and  there  to  purge  them- 
selves by  offering  a  certain  kind  of  sacrifice  specially 
prescribed.  These  two  ceremonies — first  the  retire- 
ment and  then  the  offering — concerned  the  mother 
only,  and  had  to  be  fulfilled  whichever  the  sex  of 
the  child.  The  third  ceremony  concerned  the  infant. 
It  was  to  be  observed  only  in  the  case  of  men- 
children,  and  then  only  for  the  first-born. 

The  two  first  named  legal  regulations,  then,  are 
those  that  specially  concern  the  Blessed  Virgin's 
share  in  to-day's  Feast.  But  do  they  really  concern 
her  ?  Was  she  in  point  of  fact  absolutely  bound  to 
fulfil  them,  as  were  other  women  ?  Obviously  not. 
This  law  of  the  woman's  withdrawal  and  her  sub- 
sequent purificatory  sacrifice  implies — as  is  expressly 
shown  by  the  wording  of  the  enactment  in  Leviticus 
— that  she  had  brought  forth  her  child  in  the  ordinary 
way  ;  that  is,  in  concupiscence.  Mary,  as  we  know, 
had  not  done  this  :  her  motherhood  had  sprung  from 
Faith  and  Obedience  alone,  and  she  was  wholly  pure 
in  it.  Therefore  such  a  law,  actually,  could  not  touch 
her  at  all.  If  she  fulfilled  it,  she  did  so  merely  as  it 
was  a  general  rule  of  universal  application  to  women 
after  childbirth,  to  which  there  was  no  reason  for  her 
to  be  excepted,  as  far  as  appeared  on  the  surface. 

Nevertheless,  had  Mary  so  chosen,  she  could  have 
obtained  the  exception  which  was  really  her  due, 
from  a  law  made  for  the  sinful,  by  proclaiming  the 
truth  about  herself  and  her  Divine  Son.     Had  she 


Hiddenness  and  Poverty  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  i  o  i 

done  so  she  would  have  had  every  certainty  of  being 
believed,  and  of  having  her  dignity  as  Mother  of  the 
Messias  acknowledged  before  men.  In  the  first  place, 
she  had  the  Truth  to  support  her — always  so  power- 
ful in  itself  when  undoubtedly  present  ;  then  the 
well-known  beautiful  innocence  and  purity  of  her 
own  life,  and  the  perfect  sincerity  with  which  every- 
body must  have  unhesitatingly  credited  her.  Lastly, 
there  would  have  been  the  unimpeachable  testimony 
of  such  a  man  as  Joseph  to  the  fact  that  she  who 
passed  as  his  wife  was  a  pure  Virgin,  and  had  borne 
her  Child  by  the  Power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  whilst  to 
his  own  assertion  he  could  have  added  the  miraculous 
assurance  of  the  Angel. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all,  Mary  made  no  explanation 
whatever.  She  kept  absolute  silence,  and  fulfilled 
the  law  simply,  as  if  she  were  subject  to  sin  like 
others  ;  thus  confirming  amongst  her  fellows  the 
belief  that  she  was  a  married  woman  and  had  only 
an  ordinary  child.  Now,  this  silence  of  Mary's  when, 
obeying  the  Law  of  her  People,  she  presented  herself 
at  the  Temple,  is  the  mystery  hidden  under  the 
ceremony  of  her  Purification  ;  and  if  we  consider  her 
history  as  recorded  in  the  Gospels  we  find  that  it  is 
part  of  the  practice  she  had  followed  ever  since  she 
had  known  of  her  own  great  dignity  from  the  Angel 
Gabriel.  She  had  always  refrained  from  proclaiming 
her  exception  from  ordinary  rules ;  and,  with  the 
most  wonderful  modesty  and  self-restraint,  had  kept 


I02        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

perfect  silence  on  the  subject,  after  just  once  break- 
ing forth  in  her  Magnificat  to  Elizabeth  : — and  even 
this,  not  till  her  cousin  had  spoken  so  as  to  show 
her  own  knowledge  of  the  marvel  that  had  happened. 
Others,  we  find,  speak  of  her  Son  as  what  He  is  : — we 
know  that  the  shepherds  had  done  so  at  Bethlehem, 
and  that  Mary  had  "  kept  these  words  and  pondered 
them  in  her  heart  "^ — but  none  of  hers  are  recorded. 
Now,  again,  Holy  Simeon  pours  forth  his  feelings  on 
beholding  the  longed-for  Messias  with  fervour  that 
might  well  have  incited  the  mother  who  stood  by 
to  break  her  silence  ;  but  she  contents  herself  with 
listening,  attending,  meditating  on  what  is  said  and 
cherishing  it  in  her  heart :  she  does  not  speak. 

What  is  the  reason  of  this  wonderful  silence  and 
self-suppression  in  the  Redeemer's  Mother  ?  It  is 
simply  that  she  is  His  Mother : — that  is,  the  Mother  of 
Him  Who,  after  His  glorious  Transfiguration,  said  to 
His  disciples  :  "  Tell  the  vision  to  no  man,  till  the 
Son  of  Man  be  risen  from  the  dead "  ;  '^  and  Who 
showed,  by  many  other  sayings  recorded  in  the 
Gospel,  that  though  He  deigned  to  feel  even  some 
actual  impatience  for  the  humiliations  of  His  cross  {e.g., 
"  I  have  a  baptism  wherewith  I  have  to  be  baptised, 
and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished  ?  "^) 
yet  He  never  had  the  slightest  desire  for  His  Name 
to  be  manifested  before  the  predestined  time  fixed 
by  Divine  Providence.  Mary's  feelings,  then,  were 
*  St.  Luke  ii.  19.  '^  Matt.  xvii.  9.  ^  Luke  xii.  50. 


Hiddenness  and  Poverty  of  Jesus  and  Mary.   1 03 

inspired  by  Him  that  she  might  plainly  show  her- 
self to  be  animated  by  the  same  Spirit.  Therefore 
she  kept  her  great  happiness  for  herself  and  God 
alone,  sharing  it  with  none  but  those  to  Whom  it 
pleased  the  Holy  Ghost  to  reveal  it.  She  waited  for 
her  Maker  to  disclose  the  Wonder  when  it  should  be 
expedient  for  the  glory  of  His  own  name.  God,  and 
Jesus  her  beloved  Son,  knew  that  she  was  a  spotless 
Virgin  : — that  was  enough  for  her. 

Surely — besides  the  mystery  of  its  conformity  to 
the  conduct  of  Jesus — we  have,  in  this  unbroken 
silence  and  reserve  of  Mary's,  a  most  beautiful  picture 
of  a  soul  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  testimony  of  God 
and  its  own  conscience  alone.  Here  is  she,  the  fully 
enlightened  Mother  of  Jesus,  content  to  be  merely 
one  of  the  listeners  when  her  Only  Son  is  the  subject 
of  discourse — not  speaking  even  when  her  own  Vir- 
ginity seems  to  be  in  question — letting  the  world 
think  exactly  what  it  likes  and  what  God  chooses  it 
to  think — hiding  her  great  glory  and  repressing  all 
words  concerning  a  joy  that  must  be  almost  too  great 
to  bear  !  Here  is  indeed  a  model  for  all  men  how  to 
make  Jesus,  the  Hidden  God,  Who  inspired  this  deep 
humility  in  His  Mother,  satisfy  all  the  desires  of  their 
souls,  and  to  seek  no  human  sympathy  or  approval  in 
their  sufferings  or  for  their  actions. 

The  second  ceremony — or,  more  truly,  the  second 
part  of  the  whole  ceremony — prescribed  to  the  woman 
consisted  in  a  particular  kind  of  sacrifice  that  she  was 


I04        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

to  offer  for  her  cleansing.  Now,  different  victims 
were  allowed  here,  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  person  who  offered  them  :  as  we  know  from 
the  book  of  Leviticus,^  The  usual  one  was  a  year-old 
lamb,  and  either  a  pigeon  or  a  turtle-dove ;  but  if  the 
woman  who  came  for  her  purification  was  too  poor  to 
bring  a  lamb,  then  she  might  substitute  for  it  a  second 
turtle-dove  or  pigeon,  and  so  make  her  offering  of  two 
birds  only.  Hence  the  turtle-doves  or  pigeons  were 
especially  the  holocaust  and  sin-offering  of  the  poor. 
Which  of  these  victims,  then,  was  sacrificed  by  the 
Mother  of  the  King  of  Heaven  ?  We  find  that  St. 
Luke,  in  his  account  of  Mary's  purification,  merely 
says  that  she  came  to  the  Temple  to  make  a  "  sacrifice 
according  as  it  is  written  in  the  Law  of  the  Lord,  a 
pair  of  turtle-doves,  or  two  young  pigeons";^  he 
does  not  say  which,  and  he  does  not  mention  the 
lamb  at  all.  Now,  there  may  be  a  mystical  reason 
for  this  last  omission.  The  evangelist  very  likely 
means  us  to  understand  by  his  silence  on  that  point 
that  to  offer  a  Lamb  in  the  temple  when  "  the  Lamb 
of  God  Who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world  " 
was  brought  there  Himself  would  have  been  quite 
unsuitable.  But,  if  this  is  so,  there  is  also  un- 
doubtedly another  meaning  attached  to  the  absence 
of  precision  as  to  the  sacrifice  offered  by  Mary  in  St. 
Luke's  account  ;  and  that  meaning  is  to  call  our 
attention  most  particularly  to  the  poverty  of  Christ 

^  Lev.  xii.  6,  8,  ^  Luke  ii.  24. 


Hiddenness  and  Poverty  of  Jesus  and  Mary.  1 05 

and  His  holy  mother.  We  are  to  understand  that, 
whichever  was  the  precise  offering  brought  after  Our 
Saviour's  birth,  it  was  certainly  the  offering  of  the 
poor.  And  this,  next  to  the  hiddenness,  is  the  aspect 
of  Our  Lord's  life — and,  in  union  with  Him,  of  Mary's 
— that  the  Feast  of  the  Purification  brings  out  so 
strongly.  It  calls  us  to  meditate  on  the  fact  that 
never  was  there  a  man  poorer  than  was  the  Saviour 
of  mankind  on  earth.  His  foster-father  had  to  earn 
his  living  by  the  work  of  his  hands  ;  and  He  Himself 
had  not  a  place  of  His  own  whereon  to  lay  His  head. 
If,  as  has  sometimes  been  the  case  in  the  world's 
history,  both  great  and  holy  men  have  had  the  nature 
of  their  careers  indicated  at  their  birth  by  the  appear- 
ance of  certain  marvellous  signs,  it  may  indeed  be 
truly  said  that  the  beginning  of  Our  Redeemer's  life 
was  an  exact  prognostication  of  His  after  years.  The 
most  wretched  of  mankind  have  usually  at  least  some 
little  miserable  place  they  can  call  their  own,  in  which 
their  children  may  first  see  the  light,  whilst  He  was 
rather  exposed  than  born  in  a  stable,  rejected  even 
by  His  own  People.  The  very  sign  by  which  the 
shepherds  should  know  Him  was  His  being  laid  in  a 
manger  for  a  cradle ;  and  this  first  indication  was 
fully  carried  out  to  the  very  end  :  for  was  He  not 
even  buried  in  a  tomb  not  belonging  to  His  mother, 
and  wrapped  and  embalmed  with  linen  and  spices 
given  in  alms  by  His  friends  ?  Hence  He  chose  that 
the   sacrifice   brought  for    His  Mother's  Purification 


io6        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

should  be  in  keeping  with  the  rest,  and  should  serve 
as  yet  another  reminder  to  us  that  the  King  of  Glory 
"  being  rich  became  poor,  for  our  sakes  ;  that  through 
His  poverty  we  might  be  rich  ", 

We  must  now  shortly  consider  the  third  ceremony 
included  in  the  Law ;  and  in  doing  this  shall  see 
that  there  was  a  further  reason  for  the  poverty  of 
Mary's  offering,  in  the  fact  that  the  presentation 
of  Jesus  Himself  was  a  symbol  of  that  very  Death 
which  was  to  be  so  utterly  destitute.  This  third 
ceremony  consisted  in  bringing  every  jirst-boyn  man- 
child  to  offer  him  to  God  at  the  Altar,  and  then 
redeeming  him  by  a  certain  sum  of  money,  as  a 
testimony  that  the  child  belonged  by  right  to  God 
and  that  the  parent  kept  him  only  by  a  kind  of 
special  agreement. 

Two  reasons  are  given  in  the  Book  of  Exodus  for 
this  regulation,  but  one  only  of  these  belongs  strictly  to 
the  Mystery  of  to-day :  and  it  is  one  worth  consider- 
ing. Almighty  God,  in  order  to  show  His  dominion 
over  all  things,  was  accustomed  to  exact  the  "  first- 
fruits  "  of  everything  as  a  kind  of  tribute  and  acknow- 
ledgment, by  which  man  should  testify  that  he  holds 
his  possessions  only  by  his  Maker's  munificence.  For 
this  reason  He  required  that  all  the  first-born,  of  men 
and  of  animals,  should  be  offered  to  Him  as  the  Master 
of  all.  Hence,  immediately  after  the  words  by  which 
the  consecration  of  the  first-born  is  ordered — "Sanctify 
unto  Me  all  the  first-bom  ...  as  well  of  men  as  of 


Hiddenness  and  Poverty  of  Jesus  and  Mary.  107 

beasts  " — He  adds  the  reason :  "For  they  are  all  Mine".^ 
And  He  exacted  this  tribute  particularly  in  the  case 
of  men,  that  He  might  be  recognised  as  the  True  Head 
of  all  the  families  in  Israel  ;  and  that  in  the  persons  of 
the  eldest  sons,  who  represent  the  stem  of  the  family, 
all  the  other  children  might  be  devoted  to  His  service. 
Thus,  the  first-born  were  separated  by  this  offering 
from  common  and  secular  things,  and  passed  into  the 
ranks  of  holy  and  consecrated  ones.  This  is  why  the 
law  is  promulgated  in  these  words :  "  Thou  shalt  ^et 
apart  all  that  openeth  the  womb  for  the  Lord  ".''' 

Tertullian  has  called  Jesus  our  Saviour  "  the  Illu- 
minator of  the  Old  Law,"  which  was  only  established 
to  typify  the  mysteries  of  His  life  ;  and  the  saying  is 
especially  applicable  here,  for  who  was  ever  more 
completely  sanctified  to  the  Lord  than  the  Son  of  God 
Himself,  Whose  Mother  was  filled  with  the  Power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost?  He  was  truly  "the  first-born  of 
every  creature,"^  as  St.  Paul  calls  Him,  and  He  is 
moreover  the  "  first-fruits  "  of  the  whole  human  race. 
To-day,  therefore,  they  come  and  offer  Him  to  God  at 
His  holy  Altar,  to  testify  that  in  Him  alone  we  are  all 
sanctified  and  renewed,  and  that  through  Him  alone  we 
belong  to  the  Eternal  Father  and  have  access  to  the 
throne  of  His  Mercy.  It  was  this  that  made  Him  say, 
in  His  great  prayer  for  His  disciples,  "  And  for  them 
do  I  sanctify  Myself,"  *  that  so  the  prophecy  might  be 

'  Exod.  xiii.  2.  2  Jbid. 

'  Cploss.  i.  15.  *  John  xvii.  19. 


io8        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

fulfilled  which  promised  our  fathers  that  "  in  Him  all 
nations  should  be  blessed "  :  ^  that  is,  sanctified  and 
consecrated  to  the  Divine  Majesty.  Such  are  His 
prerogatives  as  Eldest  Son  of  the  Father,  and  such 
our  obligations  to  that  devoted  "first-born,"  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Who  sacrificed  Himself  for  love  of  us. 

And  here  we  may  profitably  call  to  mind  the  words 
of  the  thirty-ninth  Psalm,  which  St.  Paul  puts  into  Our 
Lord's  mouth  in  His  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which 
seem  to  apply  exactly  to  the  ceremony  we  are  con- 
sidering. St.  Paul  says  :  "  Wherefore  when  He  cometh 
into  the  world,  He  saith :  .  .  .  Holocausts  for  sin  did 
not  please  Thee:  then  said  I,  Behold  I  come!"^ 
meaning,  the  Apostle  understands,  that  He  came  for 
the  work  of  our  salvation.  Observe  that  Our  Lord  is 
described  as  saying  these  words  when  He  first  enters 
this  world :  ingredient  in  mundo.  Now,  the  Child 
Jesus  was  but  six  weeks  old  when  they  brought  Him 
to  present  to  God  in  the  Temple,  so  that  one  may 
truly  look  upon  Him  as  only  just  entering  the  world. 
We  may  therefore  represent  Him  to  ourselves  as 
offering  Himself  voluntarily  to  the  Eternal  Father, 
at  the  same  moment  that  His  Mother  presents  Him 
according  to  the  Old  Law  as  her  first-born,  in  place  of 
all  the  ancient  victims,  so  as  to  perfect  us  for  ever  by 
the  oneness  of  His  Sacrifice.  Hence  this  ceremony  is 
truly,  as  I  said  above,  a  preparatory  symbol  of  His 
Passion  :  and  here  is  the  deep  mystery  hidden  in  the 
^  Gen.  xxii.  j8.  ^  Heb.  x.  6,  j. 


Hiddenness  and  Poverty  of  Jesus  and  Mary.  1 09 

special  part  borne  by  the  Holy  Infant  in  the  great  act 
of  to-day. 

And  what,  we  may  naturally  wonder,  were  Mary's 
own  feelings  and  thoughts  on  this  mysterious  pre- 
sentation of  her  Divine  Son  ?  Undoubtedly  she 
entered  fully  into  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  cere- 
mony, and  united  her  will  and  intention  to  those  of 
the  infant  Saviour  Himself.  Just  as  she  had  given 
her  full  and  free  consent  on  the  day  of  the  Annuncia- 
tion to  the  Incarnation  of  the  Messias,  so  we  cannot 
doubt  that  she  now  ratified  with  her  whole  heart  the 
covenant  He  made,  on  being  offered  as  victim  for 
His  people,  about  His  Passion  and  Death.  This 
conviction  is  strengthened  by  Simeon's  words ;  for 
the  holy  man,  after  uttering  all  his  joy  and  gratitude 
at  sight  of  the  Messias  in  his  Nunc  Dimittis,  turns  to 
Mary  and  makes  that  strange  and  sad  prophecy  of 
the  sword  that  is  to  pierce  her  Mother's  heart.  We 
cannot  believe  that  he  would  have  been  inspired  to 
do  this,  on  an  occasion  that  appeared  outwardly  to  be 
full  of  nothing  but  joy,  had  it  not  been  that,  amongst 
the  many  things  about  her  Son  which  Mary  had  to 
keep  and  ponder  in  her  heart,  was  the  knowledge  of 
the  bitter  chalice  He  would  have  to  drink  as  the 
consummation  of  the  sacrifice  begun  on  this  day. 
This  subject  will  be  more  fully  treated  in  connection 
with  another  Feast ;  what  we  have  to  learn  now  is 
that  the  three  mysteries  concealed  beneath  the  cere- 
monies of  the  Purification  should  be  to  us  so  many 


no       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

reminders,  when  we  reflect  on  them,  that  the  life  of 
Mary  with  Jesus  on  earth  was  to  be  not  only  a  hidden 
and  a  poor  one,  but  a  life  full  of  the  inward  and  un- 
spoken sufferings  of  painful  anticipation  :  all  alike 
freely  accepted  by  her  with  absolutely  perfect  confor- 
mity to  the  Spirit  of  her  Son  and  the  will  of  the 
Eternal  Father. 


Ill 


VIII. 

ON  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN'S  COMPASSION. 

{Preached  on  the  Friday  in  Passion  Week.)  ^ 

"  Stabat  autem  juxta  crucem  Jesu,  mater  ejus"  (St.  John  xix. 
25).  "  Dixit  Jesus  Matri  suae :  Mulier,  ecce  filius  tuus, 
deinde  dicit  discipulo :  Ecce  Mater  tua "  (St.  John  xix, 
26). 

In  sacred  and  profane  history  alike,  last  words — 
that  is,  the  words  addressed  by  the  dying  to  those 
they  leave  behind — are  held  to  be  of  extreme  interest, 
wherever  recorded  ;  and  when  such  words  are  spoken 
to  those  whom  the  one  departing  has  loved  and  been 
loved  by  most  upon  earth,  then  they  come  down  to 
us  invested  with  a  double  interest  and  importance. 

Now,  the  two  beings  whom  the  Evangelist  St.  John 
loved  best  in  the  whole  world  were,  first  His  Divine 
Master  and  then  that  Master's  holy  Mother,  whilst  he, 
in  his  turn,  was  his  dear  Lord's  chosen  friend ;  and 
hence  he  has  taken  special  care  to  record  for  our 
benefit  the  last  words  spoken  by  Christ  to  Mary  and 
himself.  Well,  indeed,  were  those  words  worth  hand- 
*  That  is,  the  Friday  before  Palm-Sunday. 


112       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

ing  down  to  posterity,  and  a  most  beautiful  subject 
they  form  for  meditation  ;  for  they  bring  before  us  a 
touching  picture  of  Jesus  Our  Saviour,  dying  in  abso- 
lute want — having  throughout  all  His  public  life  had 
nowhere  to  lay  His  head — His  last  garment  having 
gone  to  the  soldiers  who  cast  lots  for  it — stripped  by 
His  executioners  of  almost  the  very  semblance  of 
humanity — and  yet  bestowing  something  from  the 
midst  of  His  abject  poverty : — leaving  a  precious 
pledge  of  His  friendship  to  those  He  loves  before  He 
departs  this  life.  This  pledge,  moreover,  is  a  double 
one ;  for  He  not  only  gives  His  beloved  Mother  to 
His  friend,  but  makes  over  that  friend  to  her.  He 
gives  them  both  away,  and  in  so  doing  leaves  them 
to  each  other,  so  that  His  legacy  benefits  both  at  once  : 
"  Behold  thy  son  !  "  "  Behold  thy  mother  ! "  ^ 

Now,  in  Our  Lord's  last  humiliation,  all  His  dis- 
ciples had  for  the  time  being  forsaken  Him,  but  this 
one — his  well-beloved  John  ;  hence  he  alone  was  left 
to  stand  for  all  the  faithful  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross. 
We  therefore  hold  that  this  most  precious  legacy  left 
by  Christ  to  the  Evangelist  was  left  in  his  person  to 
every  one  of  us ;  and  that  we  in  like  manner  were 
given,  in  him,  to  Christ's  Mother.  She,  standing  by 
the  Cross  and  hearing  the  words  :  Ecce  filius  tuus  ! 
received  through  her  Son's  chosen  Apostle  that  special 
office  of  Motherhood  to  all  the  adopted  children  of 
God — that  "  fertility  of  love  " — which  I  have  referred 

*  St.  John  xix.  26. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgin's  Compassion.      113 

to  before  as  having  been  intentionally  conferred  upon 
her  in  the  midst  of  sorrows. 

Mary  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  then,  heroically 
enduring  the  keenest  anguish  that  a  mother  could 
endure,  with  the  full  meaning  and  consequence  of  her 
presence  there,  is  the  subject  we  must  consider  to-day. 

And,  first,  no  one  must  suppose  that  Our  Saviour's 
Mother  was  called  to  this  post  of  anguish  merely  that 
she  might  have  her  heart  torn  by  gazing  on  the  horrible 
spectacle  of  her  Only  Son's  torments.  Providence  had 
higher  designs  than  this  on  her,  when  she  was  brought 
to  the  feet  of  Jesus  abandoned.  It  was  the  Eternal 
Father's  will  that  she  should  be  not  only  offered  in 
sacrifice  with  that  innocent  victim,  and  nailed*to  the 
Cross  by  the  very  same  nails  that  pierced  His  flesh, 
but  that  she  should  share  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  whole  mystery  wrought  by  His  Death.  This  is 
an  important  truth ;  and  I  would  here  lay  before  you 
as  clearly  as  possible  the  foundations  on  which  it  rests. 

Observe,  to  begin  with,  that  three  things  concurred  to 
make  Our  Saviour's  sacrifice  perfect.  First,  there  were 
the  sufferings  that  crushed  and  broke  His  humanity ; 
then  there  was  the  humble  resignation  with  which  He 
submitted  to  His  Father's  Will ;  and  lastly  there  was 
His  giving  birth  to  us,  in  grace,  by  His  own  death. 
To  suffer  as  a  Victim — to  submit  as  making  a  volun- 
tary offering — and  to  bring  forth  for  God  a  new  people, 
begotten  of  His  wounds,  in  suffering :  these  were  the 
three  great  acts  to  be  consummated  by  the  Son  of  God 

8 


114        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

on  the  Cross.  The  sufferings  concerned  His  humanity, 
which  was  to  bear  the  burden  and  the  punishment  of 
our  crimes ;  the  submission  concerned  His  Father 
Who,  having  been  angered  by  disobedience,  was  to 
be  appeased  by  obedience  ;  whilst  the  begetting  of 
children  concerned  us ;  for,  the  pleasure  of  our  first 
and  criminal  father  having  caused  our  death,  the 
sorrow  of  our  second  and  innocent  one  must  restore 
us  to  life. 

In  every  one  of  these  three  divisions  of  Our  Lord's 
great  Sacrifice  Mary  is  to  have  a  share.  For  this  she 
is  called  close  to  the  Cross,  to  its  very  foot,  that  there 
the  Holy  Spirit  may  impress  on  her  these  three  sacred 
marksj  or  characters,  of  her  Son's  passion,  and  so  make 
of  her  a  true  and  living  image  of  Christ  Crucified. 
Holy  Simeon  had  prophesied  that  a  sword  should 
pierce  her  heart,  and  here  she  was  to  receive  that 
sword's  sharpest  stroke  :  here  also,  by  her  very  close- 
ness to  the  instrument  of  our  Redemption,  she  was  to 
gain  her  strongest  likeness  to  her  Son :  Stabat  juxta 
Crucem. 

We  will  consider  the  Blessed  Virgin's  part  in  each 
of  Christ's  sacrificial  acts  separately,  and  in  the  order 
1  have  named  ;  therefore  we  must  first  contemplate 
her  sufferings.  To  depict  the  sufferings  of  even  an 
ordinary  mother,  truly,  is  no  easy  task  ;  and  the  only 
possible  way  of  bringing  Mary's  grief  at  her  Son's 
passion  before  one's  mind,  vividly  enough  to  realise  it 
at  all,  is  to  recall  the  oft-repeated  fact  that  the  source 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.     115 

of  her  martyrdom  at  the  sight  of  His  torments  was 
the  same  as  that  of  her  joy  in  being  His  Mother — 
her  peculiar  and  surpassing  love  for  Him.  All  other 
martyrs  have  needed  executioners  and  implements  of 
bodily  torture — the  fire,  the  rack,  the  wheel,  the  pincers 
— to  impress  the  mark  of  Christ  on  their  quivering 
flesh.  For  her,  none  of  this  horrible  apparatus  is 
needed  ;  and  whoso  imagines  that  it  is  can  but  little 
understand  the  nature  of  her  love.  One  cross  is 
enough  for  her  and  her  Beloved  ;  she  endures  the 
pangs  of  all  His  wounds  by  only  gazing  on  them  ;  her 
heart  makes  her  torments  exquisite,  and  ranks  her  at 
the  head  of  martyrs,  without  any  need  for  her  body 
to  be  touched.  If  any  one  inclines  to  doubt  this,  let 
him  think  for  a  moment  of  the  many  mothers,  loving 
their  children  only  in  the  order  of  nature,  who  would 
confess  to  feeling  those  children's  pains  as  if  they  were 
their  own.  Look  at  that  Canaanitish  woman  in  the 
Gospels  at  the  feet  of  her  Saviour !  See  her  tears — 
hear  her  cries — and  you  will  hardly  be  able  to  decide 
whether  she  herself,  or  her  poor  devil-tormented  child, 
is  suffering  most.  "  Have  mercy  on  me,  O  Son  of 
David !  my  daughter  is  grievously  troubled  by  a 
devil." ^  She  says  not  "have  pity  on  my  daughter" 
but  "  have  pity  on  me  ".  Why  ?  Because  the  fact  of 
her  child's  terrible  sufferings,  she  takes  for  granted,  is 
enough  to  make  her  an  object  of  compassion.  She 
seems  to  bear  her  afflicted  offspring  once  more  within 
1  Matt.  XV.  22. 


ii6       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

her  own  body,  and  to  be  herself  tormented  with  her  : 
so  says  St.  Basil  of  Seleucia,^  dwelling  at  length  on 
this  story  ;  and  the  woman  here  depicted  is  but  a  vivid 
example  of  what  innumerable  mothers  are  capable 
of  feeling  through  mere  love.  If,  then,  the  natural 
maternal  tie  alone  can  produce  such  wonderful  sym- 
pathy in  suffering,  surely  such  a  bond  as  that  between 
Mary  and  her  Divine  Child  must  make  her  sorrows 
reach  a  depth  far  beyond  description.  In  fact,  it  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  intense  feelings  of  the 
Canaanitish  woman,  and  of  all  ordinary  women  typified 
by  her,  are  but  faint  reflections  of  the  Blessed  Virgin's 
utterly  unselfish  anguish  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross. 

Again,  if  we  would  attempt  a  right  estimate  of  her 
grief,  we  must  not  only  remember  that  it  has  its  source 
in  her  love  :  we  must  go  farther  back,  and  reflect  on 
the  source  of  that  love  itself.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say 
much  on  this  subject  here,  as  it  has  been  dwelt  on  in 
treating  of  Mary's  Nativity  and  the  glories  to  which 
she  was  born  ;  but  it  will  help  towards  realising  her 
sorrow  to  keep  in  mind  that  her  love  differs  not  only 
in  degree,  but  in  kind,  from  that  of  other  women.  We 
shall  do  this  best  by  recalling  shortly  what  has  already 
been  said  of  the  origin  of  her  motherhood  : — namely, 
that  it  originated  not  at  all  in  nature,  but  purely  in 
grace ;  and  was  brought  about  by  her  own  acts  of 
faith  and  obedience.  Further,  we  have  seen  that  she 
was  allowed  in  a  mysterious  way  to  share  in  the 
1  Orat.  XX.  in  Chanau. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.      1 1 7 

Paternity  of  God  the  Father  by  being  made  the  human 
mother  of  His  only-begotten  Son.  Since,  then,  Mary's 
maternity  has  a  supernatural  source,  her  maternal  love 
must  have  the  same  ;  and  hence  (whilst  including  all 
natural  affection)  is  of  a  far  higher  kind  than  the  love 
of  mere  nature. 

The  Blessed  Virgin,  in  short,  loves  the  Son  at 
Whose  cruel  death  she  is  assisting  in  something  the 
same  way — though  of  course  in  an  infinitely  less 
degree — that  the  Eternal  Father  loves  the  Word  Who 
is  His  own  Image  and  Substance.  Such  a  love  as 
this,  emanating  as  it  does  from  the  very  principle  of 
all  unity,  must  necessarily  produce  a  union  and  a 
power  of  inter-communication,  between  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  holy  Mother,  corresponding  in  some  sort  to 
the  perfect  union  subsisting  between  God  the  Son  and 
His  Divine  Father.  Now,  considering  what  unspeak- 
ably keen  sympathy  a  union  of  this  kind  must  engender, 
we  are  surely  justified  in  believing  that  Mary's  sorrow 
as  a  mother  was  unlike  any  other  that  ever  has  been 
or  ever  will  be,  both  in  itself  and  in  its  effects.  The 
Father  and  the  Son  share  the  same  glory  in  Eternity, 
the  Mother  and  the  Son  share  the  same  sufferings  in 
Time  : — for  the  Father  and  Son  one  fount  of  joys,  for 
the  Mother  and  Son  one  torrent  of  griefs ;  for  the 
Father  and  Son  a  single  throne,  for  the  Mother  and 
Son  a  single  cross.  If  they  pierce  His  head  with 
thorns,  Mary's  brow  is  torn  with  every  point  of  the 
sharp  crown  ;  if  they  offer  Him  gall  and  vinegar  to 


ii8       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

drink,  Mary  tastes  the  draught  in  all  its  bitterness  ; 
if  they  stretch  out  His  body  on  a  cross,  Mary's  limbs 
are  racked  by  the  violence.  What  brings  all  this 
about  but  her  love  ?  Surely,  in  such  a  sad  case,  she 
may  cry  with  St.  Augustine,  though  in  another  sense 
than  his  :  Pondus  meum  amor  meus  !  ^  for  how  heavily 
does  not  her  love  oppress  her  mother's  heart !  It  is 
like  a  band  of  iron  round  her  breast,  tightening  it  so 
as  to  stifle  her  very  sobs.  It  is  as  a  leaden  weight  on 
her  head,  all  the  harder  to  bear  that  she  cannot  relieve 
her  oppressive  sadness  by  tears.  It  overwhelms  her 
whole  body  with  a  crushing  languor,  till  her  limbs 
nearly  fail  her  altogether.  But  the  heaviest  part  of 
all  her  trouble  is  that  she  knows  it  is  adding  to  Christ's 
trouble,  and  that  she  is  constrained  against  her  will 
to  grieve  Him  by  the  sight  of  her  own  grief,  to  which 
she  knows  He  is  pitifully  alive.  Mother  and  Son  see 
their  respective  sufferings  reflected  as  in  two  mirrors, 
while  they  gaze  each  on  the  other,  and  have  their 
pains  indefinitely  multiplied  by  this  mutual  reciprocity 
of  feeling.  The  Blessed  Virgin's  love  momentarily 
increases  her  anguish,  because  it  is  powerless  either  to 
console  Jesus  or  to  lessen  His  torments — but  on  the 
contrary  is  compelled  to  be  the  means  of  redoubling 
them  ;  for  it  is  the  intimate  knowledge  of  His  Mother's 
intense  love  that  makes  her  Son  so  keenly  realise  the 
intensity  of  her  grief,  and  thus  suffer  more  from  the 
reaction  on  Himself., 

^  Con/.,  lib.  xiii.,  cap.  ix.,  torn,  i.,  col.  228. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.      119 

Still,  however  true  and  high  reasons  we  may  find 
for  the  depth  of  Mary's  sorrows  at  the  foot  of  the 
Cross,  they  must  always  remain  really  incompre- 
hensible to  us.  It  is  better,  in  face  of  them,  rather  to 
do  our  best  to  imitate  and  sympathise  than  to  try  to 
understand  what  we  cannot.  With  the  week  that  we 
are  about  to  enter  upon  before  us,  the  sight  of  Christ's 
mother  racked  with  His  torments,  and  absolutely  dead 
to  everything  but  Him,  should  move  us  at  least  to  desire 
such  compassion  for  our  Redeemer's  sufferings  as  will 
make  us  indifferent  to  worldly  pleasures.  Well  for 
us  if  we  can  go  further,  and  learn  that  there  is  no  lot 
so  really  blessed  as  that  of  being  allowed  a  share  in 
the  Cross  of  Jesus,  and  receiving  the  gift  of  inces- 
sant mourning  for  His  sufferings  and  our  sins.  If  we 
doubt  our  own  courage  for  accepting  such  a  lot  we 
may  get  help  by  meditating  on  the  next  point  we  have 
to  consider :  namely,  Mary's  part  in  the  perfect  sub- 
mission and  voluntariness  of  Christ's  Sacrifice,  which 
is  shown  by  her  manner  of  enduring  her  share  in  His 
sufferings. 

Now,  great  afflictions  may  be  nobly  overcome  in 
three  different  ways.  First,  by  actually  banishing  all 
mourning  or  sadness  about  them,  and  losing  even  the 
sense  of  grief ;  secondly,  by  bearing  them  with  resolute 
patience,  though  the  soul  be  troubled  by  them  never 
so  sorely  ;  thirdly,  by  feeling  the  sorrow  itself  with 
the  greatest  keenness,  and  yet  not  feeling  any  trouble 
or  disturbance  about  it.     In  the  first  of  these  states. 


I20       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

all  feeling  of  sorrow  has  passed,  and  we  enjoy  perfect 
repose :  "  I  am  filled  with  comfort.  I  exceedingly 
abound  with  joy  in  our  tribulation,"  ^  says  St.  Paul  : 
that  is,  a  holy  and  even  superabundant  joy  seems  to 
have  banished  all  sense  of  trouble.  In  the  second 
state,  we  fight  against  our  affliction  with  patience  ;  but 
the  struggle  is  so  severe  that,  though  the  soul  be 
victorious,  it  cannot  possibly  be  peaceful.  "  Indeed," 
Tertullian  declares,  "  the  very  opposite  is  the  case  : — 
the  soul  troubles  and  disturbs  itself  by  its  very  effort 
to  be  calm  ;  and,  though  not  crushed  down  by  weak- 
ness, is  shaken  by  its  own  resistance  and  upset  by 
force  of  its  own  firmness."  ^  But  in  the  third  state — 
which  can  be  reached  only  by  a  great  miracle — God 
bestows  such  great  strength  against  suffering  that  its 
full  violence  can  be  borne  without  the  disturbance  of 
our  peace.  Thus,  in  the  first  of  these  three  states 
tranquillity  banishes  suffering  ;  in  the  second,  suffering 
prevents  tranquillity  ;  whilst  the  third  unites  the  two, 
and  joins  extreme  suffering  to  supreme  tranquillity  of 
soul. 

Holy  Scripture  frequently  compares  grief  to  a 
troubled  sea  : — "  The  waters  are  come  in  even  to  my 
soul "  ;  ^  "  my  calamities  .  .  .  have  overwhelmed  me 
with  their  paths  as  with  waves  ; "  ^  for  instance  : — and 
Almighty  God's  three  ways  of  overcoming  our  grief 
may  be  actually  illustrated  from  three  different  means 

^  2  Cor.  vii.  4.  2  Tertull.,  de  Anitna,  n.  10. 

^  Ps.  Ixviii.  I.  *  Job  xxx.  12. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.      121 

used  by  Our  Lord  to  subdue  the  waters.  At  one 
time  we  see  Him  simply  command  the  winds  and 
waves,  and  then  there  comes,  says  the  EvangeHst, 
"  a  great  calm  "}  Even  so  God,  when  He  chooses, 
calms  a  soul  tossed  about  with  troubles  by  simply 
sending  forth  His  Holy  Spirit  upon  that  soul  and 
bidding  its  tempests  to  cease  :  "  our  flesh  had  no  rest 
.  .  .  but  God,  Who  comforts  the  humble,  comforted 
us  "!^  Here  is  God  calming  the  waves  of  the  soul 
and  restoring  her  lost  serenity. 

On  another  occasion  Christ  gives  the  waters  their 
will,  and  lets  the  waves  rise  with  furious  vehemence, 
so  that  the  vessel — driven  violently  before  them — is 
threatened  with  instant  shipwreck  ;  while  Peter, 
struggling  through  the  waters,  expects  to  be  buried 
in  their  depths.  Nevertheless,  Our  Lord  guides  the 
ship  and  bears  up  the  trembling  Apostle  with  His 
own  hands.^  Thus  a  soul,  struggling  with  very 
violent  grief,  feels  as  if  she  must  be  overwhelmed  and 
swallowed  up  by  it :  "  we  were  pressed  out  of  measure 
above  our  strength  "  :  ^  but  Christ  gives  the  poor  soul 
such  firm  support  that  the  tempest  of  sorrow,  while 
shaking  her  to  her  very  foundations,  cannot  lay  her 
low.  This  is  the  second  state  above  referred  to. 
Now  we  come  to  the  last,  noblest,  and  most  glorious 
way  whereby  Jesus  mastered  the  waters.  Again  He 
gives  full  rein  to  the  storm,  and  allows  the  winds  to 

^  Matt.  viii.  26.  2  2  Cor.  vii.  5,  6. 

^  Matt.  xiv.  24-32.  *  2  Cor.  i.  8. 


122       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

lash  the  waves  into  fury  and  make  them  rise  to  a 
fearful  height.  Then,  treading  the  angry  billows 
under  foot,  He  walks  firmly  and  confidently  over 
them  as  if  glorying  in  His  power  to  brave  the  un- 
governable element  even  in  its  fiercest  rage.^  In  like 
manner  does  God  let  suffering  loose  upon  us  that  it 
may  act  with  its  fullest  force,  so  that  we  "  should  not 
trust  in  ourselves  but  in  God  Who  raiseth  the  dead  ".^ 
Then  the  faithful  soul,  strong  and  confident  amidst 
this  spiritual  tumult,  lets  the  waves  of  trouble  surge 
harmless  around  her,  and  walks  over  them  with  so 
calm  and  even  a  step  that  they  are  compelled,  against 
their  very  nature,  to  serve  for  her  support.  Here 
we  have  the  third  and  highest  supernatural  way  of 
overcoming  afflictions,  and  the  one  in  which  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  overcomes  His. 

The  Blessed  Virgin,  watching  Our  Saviour  die,  is 
in  this  third  state  of  soul.  The  flood  of  grief  rises 
high  above  her  head — the  storm-driven  waves  of 
sorrow  dash  against  her  heart — a  very  gulf  of  misery 
seems  to  open  in  the  waters  beneath  her  feet  and 
threaten  her  destruction — but  her  constancy  remains 
unshaken.  Not  for  a  moment  does  she  wish  for  any 
abatement  of  the  sufferings  that  make  her  like  unto 
her  Son,  or  for  any  comfort  to  help  her  in  bearing 
them.  She  dreams  not  of  asking  the  Eternal  Father 
to  lessen  her  anguish  by  one  single  throb,  when  she 
beholds  Him  pouring  out  the  full  vials  of  His  wrath 

1  John  vi.  17-21.  ^  2  Cor.  i.  9. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.     123 

on  the  head  of  His  Only-begotten  till  Jesus  Himself 
must  perforce  call  aloud  that  His  Father  has  forsaken 
Him.  However  terrible  her  griefs,  nothing  could 
grieve  her  so  much  as  to  receive  treatment  less  severe 
than  His,  and  not  to  feel  all  the  pangs  of  Her  Beloved. 
She  wills  that  her  sorrows  should  reach  their  very 
utmost  possible  limit  in  union  with  His,  and  that  she 
should  be  able  to  say  with  Him,  "  all  thy  heights  and 
thy  billows  have  passed  over  me  " }  Let  the  storm 
of  grief  rage  as  it  will,  the  Holy  Spirit  will  never  allow 
His  own  temple  to  be  shaken,  for  He  has  laid  "the 
foundations  thereof  in  the  holy  mountains,"  ^  and  will 
keep  it  firm  under  every  shock.  The  higher  region 
of  Mary's  soul,  in  which  her  Heavenly  Spouse  has 
made  His  dwelling-place,  will  keep  its  serenity  un- 
disturbed amid  the  tempest. 

St.  John  Chrysostom,  commenting  on  to-day's 
Gospel,  calls  our  attention  to  one  particular  aspect 
of  Christ  about  to  yield  up  His  soul  on  the  Cross, 
which  will  clearly  show  the  reason  of  His  holy 
Mother's  attitude  at  the  foot  of  that  Cross  if  we 
meditate  on  it  here.  It  is  the  marvellous  calmness 
and  self-possession  of  Jesus  in  His  agony  that  fills 
this  great  Saint  with  admiring  awe.  On  the  eve  of 
His  death,  the  preacher  bids  us  observe,  Our  Lord 
sweats,  trembles  and  shudders  at  the  terrible  vision 
of  His  torture  that  rises  before  Him  ;  but  when  His 
heavy  troubles   have   actually  come  upon   Him  He 

^  Ps.  xli.  8.  "^  Ps.  Ixxxvi.  i. 


124       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

seems  to  be  another  man,  to  whom  torments  are 
indifferent.  He  talks  quietly  to  the  happy  thief ; 
He  looks  upon  and  recognises  all  those  of  His  own 
people  who  are  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  speaks  to 
them,  and  comforts  them  ;  and  at  last — seeing  that 
He  has  accomplished  all  He  had  to  do,  and  carried 
out  the  Will  of  His  Father  in  every  particular — He 
gives  up  His  Soul  to  Him  in  such  a  peaceful,  free 
and  deliberate  manner  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  of 
its  being  His  own  act.  It  is  just  as  He  had  said  : — 
"  No  man  taketh  it  away  from  Me,  but  I  lay  it  down 
of  Myself".! 

The  holy  doctor  then  goes  on  to  ask  the  meaning  of 
this  :  how  it  was  that  the  fear  of  suffering  oppressed 
Him  so  terribly,  when  the  suffering  itself  hardly  seems 
to  touch  Him  ?  And  he  answers  that  the  reason  pro- 
bably is  that  the  scheme  of  our  redemption  was  neces- 
sarily a  work  of  strength  and  weakness  combined. 
Christ  wished  to  show  by  His  fears  that,  like  unto  us, 
He  felt  trouble  keenly  ;  whilst  by  His  firmness  He  had 
to  prove  that  He  could  perfectly  master  His  feelings 
and  make  them  yield  to  His  Fathers  Will.  Such  is 
the  reason  of  our  Redeemer's  attitude  at  this  supreme 
moment  given  by  St.  John  Chrysostom  ;  and  doubtless 
it  is  a  solid  one.  Yet  other  reasons  too  may  be  found  ; 
and  I  venture  to  suggest  one  in  connection  with 
the  present  subject  which  seems  of  even  a  higher 
kind,  and  to  go  nearer  to  the  heart  of  the  mystery. 
1  St.  John  X.  i8. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.      125 

I  think  we  may  believe  that  one  most  probable  cause 
of  Our  Lord's  peace  on  Calvary,  when  the  Mount  of 
Olives  had  witnessed  His  agony,  was  the  fact  that  the 
Cross  on  Mount  Calvary  found  Him  in  the  very  act 
of  His  Sacrifice,  and  there  is  no  action  in  the  world 
that  should  be  performed  in  so  calm  a  spirit  as  this 
one.  Those  who  let  their  thoughts  wander  here  and 
there  without  restraint,  according  as  curiosity  or  inclina- 
tion suggest,  while  present  at  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,  cannot  have  the  least  idea  of  what  Sacrifice 
means. 

Sacrifice  is  an  act  by  which  we  offer  our  homage  to 
God  ;  and  who  does  not  know  that  any  act  of  respect 
demands  a  quiet  and  collected  demeanour  ?  It  is  the 
very  nature  of  respect  to  require  this.  God  sees  into 
the  depth  of  all  hearts,  and  holds  us  to  be  wanting 
in  due  respect  for  His  majesty  when  our  souls  are 
uncontrolled  and  distracted  in  His  presence.  How 
important,  then,  that  the  High  priest  who  actually 
offers  the  sacrifice  should  do  so  with  a  perfectly  calm 
mind  !  The  oil  with  which  Aaron  is  anointed — 
that  symbol  of  peace  poured  so  abundantly  over  his 
head — is  in  fact  intended  to  warn  him  of  the  peace 
that  he  should  attain  to  in  his  own  mind  and  heart 
by  banishing  every*  distracting  thought  and  feeling. 
Hence  it  was,  we  cannot  doubt,  that  Our  Divine  Pontiff 
Jesus  Christ  showed  Himself  so  perfectly  calm  in  His 
death-agony.  If  He  had  appeared  troubled  on  Mount 
Olivet,  it  was,  says  St.  Augustine,  a  voluntary  anguish 


126       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

that  He  suffered  ;  for  only  by  his  own  will  could  it 
affect  Him ;  and  for  this  reason: — He  was  then,  in  His 
own  eyes,  simply  the  victim,  and  as  a  victim  He  willed 
to  behave.  Therefore  He  adopted — if  we  may  be 
allowed  to  say  so — the  very  actions  and  posture  of  a 
victim  which  was  being  dragged,  terrified  and  shudder- 
ing, to  the  altar.  But  on  the  Cross  it  is  quite  other- 
wise. He  it  now  at  the  altar,  as  priest ;  and  from  the 
moment  that  His  innocent  hands  have  been  raised  to 
present  Himself  as  our  victim  to  the  Wrath  of  Heaven, 
He  is  exercising  His  priestly  function ;  and  He  will 
allow  no  more  fear  to  be  seen  lest  it  should  imply 
any  repugnance  for  the  sacrifice.  His  Divine  Will,  to 
which  all  His  emotions  are  subject,  prevents  the  peace 
of  His  Soul  from  being  troubled  and  represses  all 
outward  sign  of  anguish ;  and  thus  we  are  made  to 
understand  that  our  most  merciful  High-Priest  offers 
Himself  for  us  quite  freely  and  from  pure  love  of  our 
salvation.  According  to  St.  Augustine,  again,  "  He 
dies  as  gently  as  we  might  go  to  sleep  "} 

Now,  Mary  is  appointed  to  share  in  this  great  sacri- 
fice, and  to  offer  up  her  own  Son  ;  and  this  is  why  she, 
as  well  as  He,  gathers  up  her  full  strength  and  stands 
composed  and  upright  beneath  the  Cross.  This  is 
why,  despite  all  her  sufferings,  she  gives  Him  with 
her  whole  heart  to  the  Eternal  Father  to  be  the  victim 
of  His  vengeance.  We  must  remember,  too,  that 
Christ's  Mother  did  not  offer  up  her  Son  on  this  one 
^  Tract,  cxix,,  n.  6, 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.     127 

occasion  only  :  she  had  been  offering  Him  unceasingly 
from  the  moment  when  Holy  Simeon  had,  by  God's 
command,  foretold  to  her  the  strange  contradictions 
of  which  he  was  to  be  the  object,  and  which  were  to 
"  pierce  her  heart  with  a  sword  ".  ^  She  had  not  known 
what  the  contradictions  were  to  be,  nor  to  what  special 
manner  of  persecution  her  beloved  Son  was  to  be  sub- 
ject ;  but  she  had  always  had  to  endure  the  double 
torment  of  knowing  that  He  mu^t  suffer,  and  of  being 
in  uncertainty  as  to  how :  so  that  she  herself,  as  Jesus 
grew  up  under  her  eyes,  suffered  His  passion  over  and 
over  again,  in  anticipation  that  was  all  the  more 
terrible  from  being  vague.  But  through  it  all  she 
never  slackened  in  her  perfect  submission  to  the  Will 
of  God  ;  and  she  showed  this  resignation  by  the  double 
act  of  accepting  the  uncertainty  and  of  being  ready 
to  offer  the  Child  in  whatever  way  it  should  please 
His  Father  when  the  time  and  manner  should  be  dis- 
closed. Ever  since  He  had  lain  a  little  infant  in  her 
arms  she  had  looked  upon  Him  as  a  Victim  ;  and  now 
that  she  sees  the  death-blow  inflicted  on  the  Cross  she 
is  but  completing  the  sacrifice  that  she  had  begun  to 
take  part  in  long  ago.  Just  as  Our  Saviour  Himself 
takes  care  to  show  that  He  makes  His  Sacrifice  volun- 
tarily, so  she  would  rather  have  her  very  heart  torn 
out  than  withhold  for  a  moment  her  full  consent  to 
His  passion  and  death. 

But  she  is  to  receive  more  than  she  has  offered 

1  Luke  ii.  34,  35. 


128       Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

up ;  for  God  will  restore  that  well-beloved  Son  to  her 
arms,  and  meantime  He  gives  her  for  children  all 
His  Christian  people.  He  does  this,  as  we  have  seen, 
through  the  faithful  Apostle  who  has  himself  described 
the  wondrous  mystery  in  the  Apocalypse  : — "  And  a 
great  sign  appeared  in  heaven  :  a  woman  clothed 
with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  on 
her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars  :  and  being  with 
child,  she  cried  travailing  in  birth,  and  was  in  pain 
to  be  delivered  "}  St.  Augustine  declares  that  this 
woman  is  the  Blessed  Virgin, ^  and  there  are  many 
convincing  proofs  to  be  given  for  the  statement.  But 
how  can  the  painful  child-birth  here  named  be  ex- 
plained, when  it  is  the  belief  of  the  Church  that  Mary 
was  exempt  from  the  common  curse  of  mothers,  and 
brought  forth  her  Son  without  suffering  just  as  she 
conceived  Him  without  concupiscence  ?  These  as- 
sertions seem  contradictory,  but  are  in  fact  not  so ; 
for  the  .  bringing  forth  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  the 
Faithful  are  two  separate  births,  and  this  passage  of 
Scripture  is  interpreted  of  the  latter.  Mary  brought 
forth  the  Innocent  One  painlessly ;  but  she  is  to 
become  the  Mother  of  sinners  amidst  grief  and  tears, 
the  natural  effect  of  the  high  price  she  has  to  pay  for 
her  universal  maternity.  This  price  is  no  less  than 
her  only  Son,  whom  she  must  see  die  before  she  can 
bring  forth  God's  adopted  children,  and  of  whom  it  is 

'  Apoc.  xii.  I. 

^  Serm.  iv.,  de  Simp,  ad  Catec,  cap.  i.,  torn,  \'u,  col,  575, 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion,      129 

therefore  truly  said  that  she  bore  them  in  pain  and 
sorrow.  And  in  this  painfully-acquired  second  mother- 
hood she  is  again  mysteriously  sharing  the  character- 
istics of  the  Eternal  Father's  own  Paternity ;  for  has 
He  not  given  up  His  Son  by  nature,  and  delivered 
Him  to  death,  that  He  might  make  man  into  His  Son 
by  adoption  and  co-heir  of  His  Only  Begotten  ?  By 
the  same  love  with  which  He  delivers  up,  forsakes, 
and  sacrifices  His  Divine  Son  He  adopts,  quickens, 
and  regenerates  us  :  almost  as  though  He  wished  to 
justify  His  adoption  of  us  by  in  some  sense  losing 
His  rightful  Heir  to  make  room  for  us.  We  can 
never  sufficiently  wonder  at,  or  be  grateful  enough 
for,  love  such  as  this. 

If  Mary,  then,  is  to  take  her  part  in  fulfilling  the 
third  condition  of  Christ's  perfect  sacrifice,  whereby 
He  begets  a  new  and  regenerate  family  of  children 
for  His  Divine  Father  hy  the  Cross,  the  reason  is  clear 
for  her  being  appointed  Mother  of  the  Faithful  at  the 
foot  of  that  Cross  and  nowhere  else.  She  is  the  Eve 
of  the  New  Covenant,  as  we  have  seen  ;  and  in  that 
capacity  must  make  satisfaction  for  the  sin  of  our 
first  mother  just  as  the  Second  Adam  makes  it  for 
that  of  our  first  father.  She  is  destined  to  do  this 
by  uniting  her  will  to  the  Eternal  Father's  Will,  and 
making  with  Him  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  common  to 
both.  And  how  is  the  sacrifice  carried  out  ?  By 
means  of  a  few  words  spoken  by  Jesus  from  His  bed 
of  death  that  must  have  pierced  her  heart  with  a  stab 

9 


130        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

sharper  than  any  she  had  felt  in  her  whole  life  before. 
What  does  she  hear  Him  say  as  He  hangs  dying  before 
her  eyes  ?  What  is  His  last  farewell  ?  "  Woman, 
behold  thy  son"  He  says.  We  have  but  to  think  for 
a  moment  over  these  words  to  realise  that  all  the 
pangs  Mary  ever  suffered  must  have  been  concen- 
trated in  them — for  what  an  exchange  do  they  imply  ! 
John,  in  whom  she  was  to  behold  all  of  us,  could 
become  her  child  only  at  the  cost  of  Christ ;  a  mere 
man  must  henceforth  take  the  place,  for  the  rest  of 
her  earthly  life,  of  God  Himself;  and,  whatever  com- 
fort St.  John  may  be  to  her  afterwards,  the  very 
thought  of  the  contrast  at  the  moment  brings  her 
terrible  loss  more  vividly  before  her  than  anything 
else  could  have  done.  In  short,  the  death-warrant 
of  Mary's  divine  maternity  seems  to  be  conveyed  in 
the  very  same  words  that  bring  to  pass  her  human 
motherhood  ;  and  thus  her  heart  is  opened  wide  to 
admit  us  by  a  piercing  sword  indeed. 

Holy  Scripture  as  well  as  natural  affection  tells  us 
"  not  to  forget  the  groanings  of  our  Mother  "}  Let 
no  Christian  who  sees  His  mother  Mary,  when  Jesus 
has  given  up  the  Ghost,  standing  desolate  beneath 
the  Cross  for  His  sake,  forget  that  she  helped  to  bring 
Him  forth  to  grace  in  pain  and  anguish  ;  and  let  him 
further  remember  that  the  sharpest  sting  of  all  her 
sorrows  lay  in  the  fear  that  so  many  of  the  dearly- 
bought  race  would  make  her  Son's  death  of  no  avail 

^  Ecclesiasticus  vii.  29. 


On  the  Blessed  Virgins  Compassion.      131 

by  rejecting,  of  their  own  free  will,  the  grace  it  won 
for  them.  Keeping  this  thought  in  mind,  it  will 
surely  not  be  difficult,  for  any  of  us  who  may  be 
crucifying  Christ  over  again  by  mortal  sin,  to  use  this 
solemn  time  of  His  passion  for  "  bringing  forth  fruits 
worthy  of  penance,"  and  so  consoling  and  rejoicing 
that  torn  and  wounded  Mother's  Heart  by  our  own 
loving  tears  of  sorrow. 


132 


IX. 

THE  ASSUMPTION  OF  MARY. 

"  Quae  est  ista  quae  ascendit  de  deserto,  deliciis  affluens,  innixa 
super  dilectum  suum  ?  "  (Cant.  viii.  5). 

The  succession  of  the  Blessed  Virgin's  Feasts  that 
we  have  followed  has  shown  how  wonderfully  the 
Mysteries  of  Christianity  are  linked  one  with  another  ; 
and  this  one,  which  celebrates  the  final  event  of  her 
earthly  life,  has  a  special  connection  with  the  Incar- 
nation of  the  Eternal  Word.  For  if  Mary  once 
received  Jesus  her  Saviour,  it  is  fitting  that  the  Saviour 
should  in  His  turn  receive  Mary.  He  disdained  not 
to  come  down  to  her  ;  and  now  He  will  take  her  up 
to  Himself  and  make  her  share  His  glory.  It  is  but 
natural,  therefore,  to  find  the  Holy  Maiden  rising  in 
triumph  from  her  tomb  amid  pomp  and  splendour. 
She  gave  her  Son  His  human  life  ;  and  He,  being 
God,  and  hence  bound  to  repay  munificently,  gives 
her  in  return  the  glorious  Life  of  immortality.  Thus 
are  these  two  mysteries — of  the  Incarnation  and  the 
Assumption — linked ;  and,  that  there  may  be  still 
closer   relation  between  them,  we  may  well   believe 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  133 

that  the  Angels  take  part  in  both  : — that  they  rejoice 
to-day  with  Mary,  and  are  dehghted  to  behold  so 
beautiful  a  completion  of  the  mystery  whose  begin- 
nings they  first  announced. 

Heaven,  as  well  as  earth,  has  its  gala  days  and 
triumphs,  its  functions  and  solemn  entries  ;  or,  rather, 
earth  borrows  these  names  for  its  own  vain  pomps. 
Magnificence  can  in  fact  only  be  realised  to  its  fullest 
extent  in  the  splendid  festivals  of  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem ;  and  of  all  the  glorious  solemnities  that  have 
rejoiced  the  holy  angels  and  the  spirits  of  the  Blessed, 
we  may  be  sure  that  the  one  we  are  keeping  to-day 
is  among  the  most  illustrious.  The  raising  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  to  the  throne  prepared  for  her  by  her 
Son  must  indeed  be  the  occasion  of  a  most  joyful  day 
in  Eternity  : — if  we  may  speak  of  days  in  the  Everlast- 
ing City.  To  describe  Mary's  entry  into  Heaven  I 
might  try  to  bring  before  you  the  great  concourse  of 
its  inhabitants,  with  the  acclamations  and  glad  canticles 
of  the  nine  orders  of  Angels  and  the  whole  heavenly 
Court.  I  might  even  go  higher,  and  show  you  the 
Mother  of  God  presented  by  her  Divine  Son  before 
the  Father's  throne,  there  to  receive  from  His  Hand 
her  crown  of  immortal  glory.  But  my  object  here  is 
not  so  much  to  dwell  on  the  ejfects  of  her  Assumption, 
in  her  attainment  of  glory,  as  to  consider  what  were 
its  causes  ;  and  for  this  purpose  it  will  be  better  for 
us  to  think  most,  not  of  the  heavenly  court  that  re- 
ceives her  above  but  of  the  virtues  that  accompany 


134        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

her  from  below.  These  virtues,  in  fact,  form  her 
chief  glory,  since  they  both  prepared  her  for  the  bliss 
she  has  attained  and  will  themselves  cause  its  fullest 
perfection  throughout  eternity. 

That  Mary  might  enter  into  her  glory  she  had,  first, 
to  be  stripped  of  this  wretched  mortality,  as  of  a 
garment  foreign  to  her ;  then,  her  body  and  soul  had 
to  be  "clothed  upon"  with  immortality,  as  with  a 
royal  mantle  or  triumphal  robe  ;  and  lastly,  clad  in 
this  superb  apparel,  she  had  to  be  placed  on  her  throne, 
above  the  cherubim  and  seraphim  and  all  other 
creatures.  Now,  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  whole 
of  this  great  work  was  wrought  by  three  special  virtues 
which  shone  forth  above  all  others  in  the  Mother  of 
Christ :  namely,  those  of  Divine  Love,  Holy  Chastity, 
and  Perfect  Humility.  I  shall  try  to  set  forth  the 
special  relation  of  each  of  these  virtues  to  the  three 
steps  of  the  Blessed  Virgin's  entry  into  Eternal  Bliss. 

I. 

Nature  and  grace  concur  in  establishing  the  un- 
changeable necessity  of  dying.  It  is  a  law  of  nature 
that  everything  mortal  owes  tribute  to  death ;  and 
grace  has  not  exempted  man  from  the  hard  necessity 
because  the  Son  of  God  determined  to  destroy  death 
by  means  of  death  itself.  He  has  therefore  laid  down 
the  law  that  we  must  pass  through  its  very  hands  to 
escape  from  it,  and  go  down  into  the  tomb  to  rise 
again.     In  short,  to  strip  mortality  of  its  power  we 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  135 

must  all  die.  Therefore  the  sacred  pageant  of  to-day- 
had  to  be  preceded  by  Mary's  decease :  she  could  not 
attain  to  her  triumph  without  first  submitting  to  the 
law  of  Death,  and  leaving  behind  in  his  clutches — so 
to  speak — everything  belonging  to  her  that  was  mortal. 
But,  though  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  subjected  to 
this  common  law,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that 
she  had  to  undergo  it  in  the  ordinary  way.  Death 
itself  is,  indeed,  the  lot  of  all ;  but  its  principle  may 
vary  in  different  cases.  Now,  everything  in  Mary's 
career  was  supernatural :  she  received  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  beginning  miraculously,  and  it  is  but  to  be  ex- 
pected that  she  should  have  back  her  well-beloved 
Son,  at  the  end,  also  by  a  miracle.  Further,  it  seems 
a  fitting  completion  to  a  life  so  full  of  marvels  as  was 
hers  that  the  principle  of  her  death  should  be  not  a 
human,  but  a  divine,  one.  Hence,  granting  that  some 
supernatural  cause  is  to  be  looked  for  here,  we  have 
only  to  seek  for  the  special  one ;  and  I  hold  it  to  be 
certain  that  Mary's  human  life  came  to  an  end  simply 
through  the  working  of  Divine  Love.  The  strength 
of  this,  hourly  increasing  in  her  throughout  her  mortal 
life,  at  last  burst  asunder  the  bonds  of  flesh  and  bore 
away  her  soul  to  be  reunited  with  the  Son  from  Whom 
she  had  been  parted  only  by  a  violent  wrench.  Such 
a  death  is  a  sacred  mystery ;  but  we  may  to  some 
extent  realise  how  it  might  come  to  pass  by  yet  once 
more  calling  to  mind  what  has  been  so  often  dwelt 
upon  in  following  the  whole  chain  of  events  in  the 


136        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Blessed  Virgin's  life : — namely,  the  source,  and  nature  of 
her  love  for  Jesus.  To  draw  this  matter  out  again  in 
full  detail  would  be  superfluous ;  but  I  may  here 
quote,  as  specially  applicable  to  our  present  subject, 
the  words  of  a  very  holy  man  which  beautifully  sum- 
marise all  that  has  gone  before,  and  bring  out  with 
striking  force  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  Mary's 
maternal  affection.  Amadeus  of  Lausanne — a  Bishop 
of  the  twelfth  century — in  a  homily  on  the  Blessed 
Virgin's  praises,  has  the  following  passage:  "To  form 
Mary's  love,  two  loves  were  united ;  for  she  gave  to 
her  Son  the  love  due  to  a  God,  and  to  her  God  the 
love  due  to  a  Son  ".^  This  is  a  sublime  way  of  saying 
that  Nature  and  Grace  concurred  in  making  the  deepest 
possible  impression  on  Mary's  heart,  as  there  is  nothing 
stronger  or  more  efficacious  than  the  love  given  by 
nature  for  a  son,  and  that  given  by  grace  for  God. 
These  two  loves  are  two  abysses,  whose  depths  we 
cannot  sound  and  whose  extent  we  cannot  take  in. 
But  in  face  of  them  we  may  truly  say,  with  the 
Psalmist:  Abyssus  abyssum  invocat:^  "deep  calleth 
unto  deep  " — since,  to  form  the  Blessed  Virgin's  love, 
the  tenderest  feelings  of  nature  and  the  most  power- 
ful forces  of  grace  met  together.  Nature  had  to  be 
present  because  the  Love  was  for  a  son,  and  grace 
because  it  related  to  a  God.  Ordinary  nature  and 
ordinary  grace  would,  of  course,  not  have  sufficed  to 
create  such  an  affection  ;  but  we  know,  from  our 
1  De  Laudib.  B.  Virg.,  Homil.  v.  2  pg.  xli.  8. 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  137 

previous  searchings  into  the  origin  of  Mary's  maternity, 
that  both  nature  and  grace  in  her  were  extraordinary. 
Hence  a  little  reflection  on  the  workings  of  this  double 
love  within  her,  after  she  had  been  left  on  earth 
without  Him  Who  was  its  object,  may  give  us  some 
faint  idea  of  how  it  might  pierce  and  wound  her  heart 
with  its  longings  till  the  frail  body  could  bear  it  no 
longer : — and  thus  become,  as  I  have  said  above,  truly 
the  cause  of  her  death.  It  is  held  by  Catholic  tradition 
that  the  Mother  of  God  remained  some  time  on  earth 
after  Our  Lord's  ascension,  it  being  His  pleasure  that 
she  should  stay  to  comfort  and  help  the  infant  Church 
during  the  early  days  of  His  departure.  If  we  would 
understand,  in  ever  so  faint  a  degree,  what  must  have 
been  her  impatience  to  rejoin  Him  during  all  those 
years,  we  must  try  to  measure  it  by  her  love.  There 
can,  I  think,  be  no  exaggeration  in  believing  that,  had 
God  not  willed  her  to  live  in  this  world  for  a  certain 
time,  any  one  of  the  sighs  of  longing  that  her  heart 
breathed  forth  would  have  been  strong  enough  to  bear 
her  soul  away  to  its  desired  goal.  Indeed,  it  would  be 
almost  truer  to  say  that  the  Blessed  Virgin's  death, 
caused  by  Divine  Love,  was  the  cessation  of  a  miracle 
than  that  it  was  itself  miraculous  ;  for  the  real  miracle 
lay  rather  in  her  being  able  to  live  on  earth  for  so  long 
parted  from  her  Beloved. 

Believing,  then,  that  excess  of  love  alone  brought 
about  the  ending  of  this  wondrous  life,  we  may  go  on 
to  ask  in  what  particular  way  the  death-blow  was 


138        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

given  ?  Did  some  more  strongly-inflamed  desire — 
some  more  violent  transport — than  any  before,  come 
to  carry  off  Mary's  soul  ?  I  venture  to  hold  that  it 
was  not  so ;  but  that  when  the  appointed  time  for 
her  release  had  come  it  was  wrought  simply  by  the 
gradual  perfecting  of  her  love,  which — having  always 
reigned  in  her  heart  without  the  slightest  obstacle — 
at  last  reached  such  perfection  that  an  earthly  body 
could  no  longer  contain  it.  Then  the  holy  Mother 
gave  up  her  happy  soul  into  the  hands  of  her  Son  : 
not  by  any  sudden  or  extraordinary  special  move- 
ment, but  gently  and  sweetly.  Even  as  the  lightest 
touch  will  make  a  ripe  fruit  drop  from  its  stem,  so 
was  this  perfect  spirit  gathered  in  one  moment  to 
its  heavenly  home,  without  effort  or  shock — needing 
nought  to  carry  it  upwards  save  its  own  holy  desires. 
Thus  did  Mary's  Love  reunite  her  soul  to  Jesus 
through  a  happy  death,  which  consigned  her  body  to 
the  tomb.  But  the  mortal  part  of  Christ's  mother 
was  not  to  stay  long  within  the  shadow  of  the  grave ; 
and  we  must  now  go  on  to  see  the  effects  of  Holy 
Chastity  in  helping  to  bring  it  forth. 

2. 

Mary's  sacred  body — the  throne  of  Chastity,  the 
temple  of  Incarnate  Wisdom,  the  instrument  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  seat  of  the  Power  of  the  Most  High 
— could  not  remain  in  the  tomb.  Her  triumph  would 
be  incomplete   if  it  took  place  apart  from  her  holy 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  139 

flesh ;  for  this,  expressly  sanctified  to  form  the  body 
of  Christ,  had  been  as  it  were  the  source  of  all  her 
glory.  The  Blessed  Virgin's  flesh,  we  know,  was 
virginal  flesh ;  and  the  power  of  holy  virginity  had 
worked  three  special  wonders  therein.  It  had  saved 
it  from  corruption,  drawn  down  heavenly  influence 
upon  it,  and  surrounded  it  with  divine  light.  These 
three  marvellous  effects  of  virginity  in  her  flesh  had 
in  their  turn  produced  three  conditions  which,  together, 
resulted  in  the  assumption  of  her  body  from  the  tomb. 
First,  the  fact  that  Mary's  flesh  was  saved  by  the 
virtue  of  holy  chastity  from  corruption  prevented 
it  from  being  dissolved,  like  that  of  mankind  in 
general,  at  death.  We  have  seen  how,  at  the  first 
moment  of  her  existence,  Mary's  body  and  soul  alike 
were  preserved  from  the  stain  of  concupiscence,  so 
that  they  possessed  perfect  integrity.  Now,  to  grasp 
fully  the  necessary  effect  of  this  miracle — which  we 
call  the  "  Immaculate  Conception " — on  her  whole 
nature,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  understand  clearly 
what  this  freedom  from  concupiscence,  in  her,  meant, 
St.  Thomas  tells  us  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the 
extraordinary  grace  bestowed  upon  Mary  merely 
tempered — as  in  others  among  the  elect — the  fire  of 
concupiscence.  He  says  that  not  only  were  evil 
works,  evil  desires,  and  even  wrong  inclinations,  de- 
stroyed in  her ;  but  that  the  very  origin  of  the  fire 
itself — the  first  spark,  so  to  speak,  whence  the  flame 
of  concupiscence  might  spring — what  theology  calls 


140        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

fomes  peccati — was  utterly  extinguished.  Further, 
entirely  to  elucidate  the  point  that  I  wish  to  make 
clear,  I  must  ask  you  to  remember  what  is  Christian 
teaching  as  to  the  ordinary  cause  of  death  in  our 
sinful  race.  We  may  not  hold,  with  mere  men  of 
science,  that  it  is  simply  a  necessary  consequence  of 
the  composite  nature  of  our  bodies.  We  are  bound 
to  raise  our  thoughts  higher,  and  to  believe  that  what 
subjects  our  flesh  to  the  law  of  corruption  is  the  fact 
that  it  attracts  what  is  evil  and  is  a  source  of  bad 
desires :  in  short,  as  St.  Paul  says,  that  it  is  caro 
peccati}  Flesh  such  as  this  has  to  be  destroyed,  even 
in  the  elect ;  because  whilst  it  remains  "  a  flesh  of 
sin,"  it  is  unworthy  to  be  united  to  a  glorious  soul, 
or  to  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  which  "  flesh 
and  blood  cannot  possess".^  It  must,  then,  change 
its  original  form  that  it  may  be  renewed,  and  lose  its 
first  life  to  receive  a  second  from  the  hand  of  its 
Maker.  For  God  allows  this  flesh  of  ours,  all  dis- 
ordered as  it  is  by  concupiscence,  to  fall  into  ruins, 
that  He  may  rebuild  it  Himself  according  to  His 
first  plan  at  its  creation.  This  is  what  we  must 
hold  as  to  bodily  corruption  if  we  would  follow  the 
teaching  of  the  Gospels,  from  which  we  learn  that  our 
flesh  has  to  be  turned  to  dust  because  it  has  been  the 
servant  of  sin  ;  whence  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that 
Mary's  flesh,  being  absolutely  pure,  must  in  conse- 
quence be  incorruptible. 

*  Rom.  viii.  3,  ^  Cor,  xv,  50, 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  141 

And  it  was  for  the  same  reason — i.e.^  through  the 
action  of  its  virginal  purity — that  her  flesh  was  destined 
to  be  endowed  prematurely  with  the  gift  of  immortality. 
Though  God  has  fixed  upon  some  particular  moment 
for  the  general  resurrection  of  the  dead,  He  may  yet 
be  compelled  for  special  reasons  to  anticipate  that  time 
in  favour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  An  apt  illustration  of 
such  forestalling  may  be  found  in  a  common  earthly 
phenomenon.  The  sun  naturally  brings  forth  fruit  only 
in  its  due  season  ;  but  there  are  certain  modes  of  culti- 
vation which  cause  plants  to  experience  his  influence 
more  quickly,  and  to  spring  up  and  bear  fruit  long 
before  that  season  arrives.  Even  so  there  are  "forced" 
plants  in  the  garden  of  our  Heavenly  Spouse  ;  and 
Mary's  holy  flesh  was  a  substance  prepared  for  pro- 
ducing the  fruits  of  immortality  before  the  commonly 
appointed  time,  by  the  peculiar  heavenly  influence 
drawn  down  upon  it  through  its  perfect  chastity.  In 
fact,  its  conformity  with  the  Flesh  of  Christ  fitted  it  to 
receive  a  specially  prompt  effect  from  His  quickening 
power.  Our  Lord  had  taken  upon  Him  that  virginal 
flesh — had  dwelt  enclosed  within  it  for  nine  months — 
had  loved  it  so  much  as  actually  to  incorporate  Himself 
with  it.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  supposed  that  He 
would  leave  a  body  so  well  beloved  as  this  in  the 
tomb.  He  would  naturally  bear  it  away  immediately 
to  Heaven,  clothed  in  immortal  glory. 

And  this  glory,  again — this  robe  of  Immortality — 
will  be  the  effect  of  Mary's  Immaculate  Conception  : 


142        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

and  for  this  reason ; — Jesus  Christ,  in  His  Gospel,  repre- 
sents the  glory  of  risen  bodies  to  us  by  saying  that  we 
shall  be  in  heaven  "  as  the  angels  of  God  "}     Hence 
Tertullian,  speaking  of  risen  flesh,  calls  it  "  angelicised 
flesh  " — angelificata  caro.     Now,  of  all  the  Christian 
virtues,  the  one  that  chiefly  forms  angels  on  earth  is 
Holy  Chastity.     St  Augustine   has   said  of  it  that 
"  whilst  dwelling  in  the  flesh  it  has  a  quality  not  of  the 
flesh,"  ^  and  which  partakes  rather  of  the  angel  than  of 
the  man.     A  virtue  that  has  power  to  produce  angels 
even  in  this  life  may  well  produce  them  in  the  future 
one  ;  and  we  have  therefore  good  reason  to  believe  that 
chastity  plays  a  most  special  part  in  clothing  our  risen 
bodies  with  their  glorious  garments  of  immortality  at 
the  Last  Day.     If  Mary's  body,  then,  because  of  its 
conformity  with  the  body  of  Our  Saviour,  surpasses 
the  very  Spirits  of  Heaven  in  purity,  what  may  we  not 
imagine  its  glory  to  be  !    To  give  us  some  slight  notion 
of  it.  Holy  Scripture  has  placed  the  moon  under  her 
feet  and  the  stars  above  her  head  ;  whilst  it  has  repre- 
sented the  sun  as  piercing  her  through  and  surrounding 
her  with  his  rays  : — Mulier  amicta  Sole  :  ^  this  being  the 
only  image  that  earth  could  aff"ord  brilliant  enough  to 
symbolise  the  beauty  and  splendour  that  must  clothe 
the  Mother  of  God  in  her  risen  state. 

^  Matt.  xxii.  30. 

"^  "  Habet  aliquid  jam  non  carnis  in  carne." — De  Sancta  Virginit.' 
n.  12,  torn.  vi. 
^  Apoc.  xii.  2. 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  143 

3. 

Such,  then,  was  the  work  of  Virginal  Purity  in 
Mary's  flesh.  The  only  point  now  left  to  consider 
is  what  particular  relation  her  perfert  Humility  of 
heart  has  to  her  final  triumph.  We  shall  understand 
this  best  by  a  further  comparison  of  her  with  her 
Divine  Son,  for  the  triumph  of  Christ — His  victory 
over  sin  and  death — was  brought  about  solely  by 
Humility  :  by  the  humbleness  of  perfect  obedience  to 
His  Father's  Will.  Now,  Mary  could  not  really 
rejoice  in  her  triumph  if  she  were  to  reach  it  by  any 
other  way  than  the  one  that  her  Son  Himself  had 
chosen  ;  and  hence  we  may  be  sure  that  by  Humility 
only  she  was  raised  to  her  throne,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing manner : — 

The  property  of  true  humility  is  to  strip  and  im- 
poverish itself,  but  at  the  same  time  to  clothe  and 
enrich  itself  in  a  marvellous  way  by  its  own  very  act, 
because  whatever  it  gives  up  it  assuredly  gets  back. 
It  cannot  be  better  described  than  by  St.  Paul's  ex- 
pression :  "  having  nothing,  yet  possessing  all  things  "^ ; 
and  by  shortly  recalling  the  chief  sacrifices  of  Mary's 
life  we  shall  see  how  perfectly  this  description  may  be 
applied  to  her  mode  of  practising  the  virtue. 

The  Blessed  Virgin  had  three  most  perfect  posses- 
sions. She  had  her  high  dignity  ;  her  wondrous  purity 
of  body  and   soul ;    and   her   motherhood   of  Jesus 

^  Coloss.  i.  19. 


144        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Christ : — she  had  for  her  own  Son  Him  in  Whom 
St  Paul  says  "  it  hath  well  pleased  the  Father  that  all 
fulness  should  dwell ".  In  her,  then,  we  have  a  creature 
greatly  distinguished  beyond  her  kind  ;  but  we  find 
that  her  deep  humility  strips  her  in  a  sense  of  all  these 
wonderful  privileges.  Though  raised  far  above  others 
by  her  dignity  as  Mother  of  God,  she  lives  a  life  of 
obscure  service  as  one  of  the  common  herd  ;  though 
separated  from  all  by  her  immaculate  purity  she  mixes 
in  the  society  of  sinners,  and  purifies  herself  as  they 
do.  But  she  does  more  than  this  :  from  Calvary  she 
even  loses  her  well-beloved  Son.  And  she  does  not 
merely  lose  Him  by  seeing  Him  die  a  cruel  death,  but 
by  His  ceasing,  in  a  certain  sense,  to  be  her  Son  at 
all  and  by  His  substituting  another  for  Himself: 
"  Woman,"  He  says  to  her,  "  behold  thy  son ! " 
Be  sure  that  Our  Saviour  did  not  speak  in  this 
way  to  His  Mother  without  reason.  He  would 
not  appear  not  to  know  her — would  not  call  her 
Woman  instead  of  Mother — if  there  were  no  deep 
mystery  hidden  beneath  His  action  ;  and  the  reason 
of  it  may  be  found  in  the  state  of  abject  humiliation 
in  which  Our  Lord  then  was,  and  which  He  willed 
that  His  holy  Mother  should  share  with  Him  by  the 
closest  possible  imitation.  We  must  remember,  here, 
that  Jesus  had  a  God  for  His  Father,  and  Mary  a  God 
for  her  Son.  At  the  moment  we  are  speaking  of,  the 
Saviour  had  lost  His  Father,  as  a  father,  and  called 
upon  Him  only  as  His  God.     Mary,  then,  must  lose 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  145 

her  Son,  to  correspond  with  this  supreme  sacrifice  ;  and 
hence  He  addresses  her  now  as  "  woman,"  and  not  as 
"  mother  ".  Further,  which  is  the  deepest  humiliation 
of  all,  He  gives  her  another  son  ;  as  though  henceforth 
He  would  cease  to  be  hers,  and  meant  to  break  the 
bond  of  their  sacred  union.  St  Paulinus  gives  as 
Christ's  reason  for  this  act  that  whereas,  so  long  as 
He  lived  His  mortal  life  on  earth,  He  had  paid  every 
possible  honour  and  service  that  a  son  could  pay  to 
His  Mother,  and  had  been  her  constant  consolation 
and  support,  now  that  He  was  on  the  eve  of  entering 
into  His  glory  He  assumed  an  attitude  more  suited 
to  the  dignity  of  God  ;  and  therefore  gave  up  the 
natural  duties  of  filial  love  to  another.  Thus  was  Mary 
left  with  St.  John  for  her  son  in  the  place  of  Jesus,  Who 
had  Himself  instituted  the  exchange.  She  humbly 
accepted  the  humiliating  decree,  and  took  the  disciple 
instead  of  the  Master — the  son  of  Zebedee  instead 
of  the  Son  of  God  (as  St.  Bernard  says) — to  her 
maternal  heart ;  and  so  she  lived  for  many  years  on 
earth,  only  thinking  in  her  humility  that  she  deserved 
not  to  be  the  Mother  of  God. 

But  if  Mary  was  thus  perfectly  stripped  of  every- 
thing, that  her  humiliation  in  this  world  might  bear 
a  close  likeness  to  her  Divine  Son's,  she  was  to  have 
all  back  in  full,  and  more  than  full,  measure  ;  her 
humility  was  not  only  to  "  have  nothing,"  but  to 
"  possess  all  things".     Because  she  made  herself  the 

servant  of  others  she  is  to  be  raised  to  a  throne  ; 

10 


146        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

because  she  purified  herself — being  all  pure  —  as 
though  a  sinner,  she  is  to  be  the  advocate  of  sinners, 
and  their  refuge  next  after  Christ :  Rcfugium  pecca- 
torum ;  and  because  she  gave  up  her  Son,  and  patiently 
and  humbly  bore  His  apparent  desertion  of  her,  that 
beloved  Son  will  now  enter  once  more  into  His  filial 
rights — which  He  had  ceded  to  John  but  for  a  time 
— and  will  present  her  before  the  whole  heavenly 
court  as  His  Mother. 

Thus,  then,  are  the  words  of  my  text  fully  verified 
in  Mary's  glorious  Assumption.  Truly,  indeed,  may 
we  say  that  she  "  cometh  up  from  the  desert,  flowing 
with  delights,  leaning  on  her  Beloved  "  ;  for  the  arm 
of  her  Divine  Son  supports  her,  His  well-known  voice 
makes  music  in  her  ear,  and  her  heart  overflows  with 
heavenly  joy  at  the  thought  that  it  is  to  His  merits 
and  love  alone  that  she  owes  every  gift  that  she  has 
received,  and  all  the  songs  of  praise  wherewith  the 
Angelic  Hosts  greet  the  entrance  of  their  Queen. 
Surely  we  may  without  presumption  imagine  the 
Patriarchs  and  Prophets  of  the  old  Law  echoing,  as 
it  were,  the  last  words  of  her  own  magnificent  canticle, 
when  they  see  the  mother  of  the  Messias  Whom  they 
had  prophesied  appear,  by  uttering  some  of  their  own 
inspired  sayings.  Moses  would  surely  cry  as  he 
beheld  Mary  assume  her  throne,  "  A  star  shall  rise 
out  of  Jacob  and  a  sceptre  shall  spring  up  from 
Israel  "  ;  ^  Isaias,  seized  with  the  spirit  of  God,  would 
^  Num.  xxiv.  17. 


The  Assumption  of  Mary.  147 

sing  in  a  rapture  of  delight :  "  Here  is  that  Virgin 
who  was  to  conceive  and  bear  a  Son "  ;  ^  Ezekiel 
would  recognise  in  the  Virgin  Mother  that  "  shut 
gate  "  '^  that  was  never  again  to  be  opened  because 
"  the  Lord  the  God  of  Israel  hath  entered  in  by  it "  ; 
whilst  Royal  David,  standing  in  the  midst,  would 
intone,  to  a  heavenly  lyre,  his  grand  song :  "  On  Thy 
right  hand  stood  the  Queen  in  golden  raiment, 
wrought  about  with  variety.  All  the  glory  of  the 
King's  daughter  is  from  within,  in  fringes  of  gold, 
wrought  with  divers  colours.  After  her  shall  virgins 
be  brought  unto  the  King — her  neighbours  shall  be 
brought  unto  Thee.  With  joy  and  gladness  shall 
they  be  brought  unto  the  King."  ^ 

Mary,  meantime,  will  once  more  pour  forth  her 
Magnificat  and  sing  the  praises  of  God,  Who  by  all 
this  honour  bestowed  upon  her  has  indeed  gloriously 
rewarded  the  humility  of  His  Handmaid. 

^  Isaiah  vii.  14.  ^  Ezek.  xliv.  2. 

3  Ps,  xliv.,  10,  14,  15,  16, 


148 


Note  to  Sermon  II., 
ON    MARY'S   CONCEPTION. 

It  may  be  a  help  to  the  full  understanding  and  enjoyment 
of  this  sermon  to  remind  readers  of  three  things  : — ix. 

(i)  That  it  was  preached  whilst  the  Truth  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin's  Immaculate  Conception,  though  almost  universally 
held  by  the  Faithful,  was  still  in  the  stage  of  being  under 
consideration  as  a  matter  for  definition :  hence  Bossuet's  care 
to  speak  of  it  undogmatically. 

(2)  That  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church  with  regard 
to  original  sin  is  as  follows,  according  to  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Trent : — that '  Adam,  when  in  Paradise  he  disobeyed 
'the  command  of  God,  at  once  lost  the  sanctity  and  justice  in 
'  which  he  had  been  instituted,  and  incurred  by  this  transgres- 
'  sion  the  anger  and  wrath  of  God  ;  and  also  the  punishment  of 

*  death  with  which  God  had  threatened  him  ;  and,  with  death, 
'  captivity  under  the  power  of  him  who  "  had  the  empire  of 
'  death,  that  is  to  say,  the  devil " ;  and  that  by  that  transgression 

•  Adam,  both  in  his  soul  and  body,  was  changed  for  the  worse. 

'  Nor  let  any  one  say  that  Adam  injured  himself  alone  and 
'  not  his  progeny,  and  that  he  lost  the  sanctity  and  justice  he 
'  had  received  from  God  for  himself  alone,  and  not  for  us  also. 
'  Nor  that  he,  thus  stained  by  the  sin  of  disobedience,  trans- 
'  fused  into  the  whole  human  race  death  and  bodily  suffering, 
'  but  not  sin ;  for  then  he  would  contradict  the  words  of  the 
'  Apostle  "  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  this  world,  and  by  sin 
'  death,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men  in  whom  all  have 
'sinned  "  (Rom.  v.  12). 


Note  on  Marys  Conception.  149 

'  Nor  can  any  one  say  that  this  sin  of  Adam  which  is  one 
'  in  origin  and  by  propagation,  not  by  imitation,  transferred  to 
'  all,  can  be  taken  away  by  any  other  remedy  than  by  the  merit 
'  of  this  one  Mediator  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  reconciled 
•  us  to  God  by  His  blood — and  that  merit  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
'  applied  both  to  infants  and  adults  by  the  sacrament  of 
'  baptism.' 

(3)  That  what  the  Church  means  by  the  "  Immaculate 
Conception  "  of  the  mother  of  God  is  that  at  the  moment  of 
\\&x passive,'^  conception — that  is,  at  the  very  first  instant  when 
her  soul  was  infused  into  her  body — she  was  sanctified  by  God's 
grace  ;  so  that  her  soul  was  never  deprived  of  that  sanctifica- 
tion  which  the  rest  of  mankind  had  forfeited  by  the  sin  of  Adam. 
It  never  from  its  first  creation  was  displeasing  to  God.  It  was 
never  stained  by  original  sin. 

It  cannot  be  better  expressed  than  by  the  definition  given 
in  the  Encyclical  of  Pope  Pius  IX.  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1854  :- 

"  Being  full  of  confidence  in  God,  and  persuaded  that  the 
fitting  moment  was  come  for  defining  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception of  the  most  holy  Virgin  Mother  of  God,  which  is 
attested  and  wonderfully  illustrated  by  the  Divine  Oracles, 
venerable  tradition,  the  permanent  feeling  of  the  Church,  the 
admirable  agreement  of  Catholic  pastors  and  their  flocks,  and 
the  solemn  acts  of  our  predecessors ;  after  having  examined 
everything  with  the  greatest  care,  and  offered  assiduous  and 
fervent  prayers  to  God,  it  has  seemed  to  us  that  we  ought  no 
longer  to  delay  to  sanction  and  define  by  our  supreme  judg- 
ment the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin,  and  thus  to 
satisfy  the  pious  desires  of  the  Catholic  world  and  our  own 
devotion  towards  the  most  holy  Virgin,  in  order  to  honour 

^  For  the  distinction  between  "  active  "  and  "  passive  "  Conception, 
see  The  Immaculate  Conception  by  Bishop  Ullathorne,  chap.  vi. ;  also 
Father  Harper's  Peace  through  the  Truth. 


150        Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

more  and  more,  in  her,  her  only  Son  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
since  all  the  praise  and  honour  which  we  give  to  the  Mother 
redounds  to  the  glory  of  the  Son.  Therefore  ...  we  declare, 
pronounce,  and  define  that  the  doctrine  according  to  which  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  was,  from  the  first  moment  of  her  Con- 
ception, by  a  singular  grace  and  special  privilege  of  Almighty 
God,  for  the  sake  of  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of 
Mankind,  preserved  and  exempted  from  all  stain  of  original 
sin,  is  revealed  by  God,  and  consequently  should  be  firmly 
and  constantly  believed  by  all  the  faithful.  If,  then,  any  one 
— which  God  forbid — has  the  presumption  to  think  in  his  heart 
otherwise  than  we  have  defined,  let  him  learn  and  know  that 
being  condemned  by  his  own  judgment,  he  has  made  shipwreck 
of  the  faith  and  forsaken  the  Church.' 


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CARDINAL   NEWMAN'S  WORKS. 
Letters  and  Correspondence  of  Jolin  Henry  Newman  during  his 

Life  in  the  English  CHtiurch.     With  a  brief  Autobiography.     Edited,  at 
Cardinal  Newman's  request,  by  Anne  Mozley.     2  vols.    Cr.  8vo.    7s. 

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Contents  of  Vol.  I. : — Holiness  necessary  for  Future  Blessedness — The  Immortality 
of  the  Soul — Knowledge  of  God's  Will  without  Obedience — Secret  Faults — Self-Denial  the 
Test  of  Religious  Earnestness — The  Spiritual  Mind — Sins  of  Ignorance  and  Weakness — 
God's  Commandments  not  Grievous — 'The  Religious  Use  of  Excited  Feelings — Profession 
without  Practice — Profession  without  Hypocrisy — Profession  without  Ostentation — 
Promising  without  Doing — Religious  Emotion — Religious  Faith  Rational — The  Christian 
Mysteries— The  Self- Wise  Inquirer — Obedience  the  Remedy  for  Religious  Perplexity — Times 
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the  Resurrection — Christian  Reverence — The  Religion  of  the  Day — Scripture  a  Record  of 
Human  Sorrow — Christian  Manhood. 

Contents  of  Vol.  II.: — The  World's  Benefactors — Faith  without  Sight— The  Incar- 
nation— Martyrdom — Love  of  Relations  and  Friends— The  Mind  of  Little  Children — 
Ceremonies  of  the  Church — The  Glory  of  the  Christian  Church— St.  Paul's  Conversion 
viewed  in  Reference  to  his  Office — Secrecy  and  Suddenness  of  Divine  Visitations — Divine 
Decrees — The  Reverence  Due  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary — Christ,  a  Quickening  Spirit — 
Saving  Knowledge — Self-Contemplation — Religious  Cowardice — The  Gospel  Witnesses — 
Mysteries  in  Religion — The  Indwelling  Spirit — The  Kingdom  of  the  Saints — The  Gospel, 
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Ministry— Human  Responsibility— Guilelessness— The  Danger  of  Riches— The  Powers  of 
Nature— The  Danger  of  Accomplishments— Christian  Zeal— Use  of  Saints'  Days, 


A  SELECT  LIST  OF  WORKS 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN'S  WORKS. 
Parochial  and  Plain  Sermons.— Continued. 

Contents  of  Vol.  III. : — Abraham  and  Lot — Wilfulness  of  Israel  in  Rejecting  Samuel 
— Saul — Early  Years  of  David — Jeroboam — Faith  and  Obedience — Christian  Repentance — 
Contracted  Views  in  Religion — A  Particular  Providence  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel — Tears 
of  Christ  at  the  Grave  of  Lazarus — Bodily  Suffering — The  Humiliation  of  the  Kternal  Son 
— Jewish  Zeal  a  Pattern  to  Christians — Submission  to  Church  Authority — Contest  between 
Truth  and  Falsehood  in  the  Church — The  Church  Visible  and  Invisible — The  Visible 
Church  an  Encouragement  to  Faith — The  Gift  of  the  Spirit — ^Regenerating  Baptism — Infant 
Baptism— The  Daily  Service — The  Good  Part  of  Mary — Religious  Worship  a  Remedy  for 
Excitements — Intercession — The  Intermediate  State. 

Contents  op  Vol  IV. : — The  Strictness  of  the  Law  of  Christ— Obedience  without  Love, 
as  mstanced  in  the  Character  of  Balaam — Moral  Consequences  of  Single  Sins — Acceptance 
of  Religious  Privileges  Compulsory — Reliance  on  Religious  Observances — The  Individuality 
of  the  Soul — Chastisement  amid  Mercy — Peace  and  joy  amid  Chastisement — The  State  of 
Grace — The  Visible  Church  for  the  Sake  of  the  Elect — The  Communion  of  Saints — The 
Church  a  Home  for  the  Lonely — The  Invisible  World — The  Greatness  and  Littleness  of 
Human  Life — Moral  Effects  of  Communion  with  God — Christ  Hidden  from  the  World — 
Christ  Manifested  in  Remembrance — The  Gainsaying  of  Korah — The  Mysteriousness  of 
our  Present  Being — The  Ventures  of  Faith — Faith  and  Love — Watching — Keeping  Fast 
and  Festival. 

Contents  op  Vol.  V. : — Worship,  a  Preparation  for  Christ's  Coming— Reverence,  a 
Belief  in  God's  Presence — Unreal  Words — Shrinking  from  Christ's  Coming — Equanimity — 
Remembrance  of  Past  Mercies — The  Mystery  of  Godliness — The  State  of  Innocence — 
Christian  Sympathy — Righteousness  not  of  us,  but  in  us — The  Law  of  the  Spirit — The  New 
Works  of  the  Gospel — 'The  State  of  Salvation — Transgressions  and  Infirmities — Sins  of 
Infirmity — Sincerity  and  Hypocrisy — The  Testimony  of  Conscience — Many  called.  Few 
chosen — Present  Blessings — Endurance,  the  Christian's  Portion — Affliction,  a  School  of 
Comfort— The  Thought  of  God,  the  Stay  of  the  Soul— Love,  the  One  Thing  Needful— The 
Power  of  the  Will. 

Contents  op  Vol.  VI. :— Fasting,  a  Source  of  Trial— Life,  the  Season  of  Repentance- 
Apostolic  Abstinence,  a  Pattern  for  Christians — Christ's  Privations,  a  Meditation  for  Chris- 
tians— Christ  the  Son  of  God  made  Man — The  Incarnate  Son,  a  Sufferer  and  Sacrifice — 
The  Cross  of  Christ  the  Measure  of  the  World— Difficulty  of  realising  Sacred  Privileges— 
The  Gospel  Sign  Addressed  to  Faith — The  Spiritual  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Church — 
The  Eucharistic  Presence— Faith  the  Title  for  Justification — Judaism  of  the  Present  Day 
— The  Fellowship  of  the  Apostles— Rising  with  Christ— Warfare  the  Condition  of  Victory 
— Waiting  for  Christ — Subjection  of  the  Reason  and  Feelings  to  the  Revealed  Word — 
The  Gospel  Palaces — The  Visible  Temple— Offerings  for  the  Sanctuary— The  Weapons 
of  Saints— Faith  Without  Demonstration— The  Mystery  of  the  Holy  Trinity— Peace  in 
Believing. 

Contents  of  Vol.  VII.:— The  Lapse  of  Time— Religion,  a  Weariness  to  the  Natural 
Man— The  World  our  Enemy — The  Praise  of  Men— Temporal  Advantages— The  Season  of 
Epiphany— The  Duty  of  Self-Denial— The  Yoke  of  Christ— Moses  the  Type  of  Christ— The 
Crucifixion — Attendance  on  Holy  Communion — The  Gospel  Feast — Love  of  Religion,  a  new 
Nature— Religion  Pleasant  to  the  Religious— Mental  Prayer— Infant  Baptism— The  Unity 
of  the  Church — Steadfastness  in  the  Old  Paths. 

Contents  of  Vol.  VIII. : — Reverence  in  Worship— Divine  Calls — The  Trial  of  Saul — 
The  Call  of  David— Curiosity,  a  Temptation  to  Sin— Miracles  no  Remedy  for  Unbelief— 
Josiah,  a  Pattern  for  the  Ignorant— Inward  Witness  to  the  Truth  of  the  Gospel— Jeremiah, 
a  Lesson  for  the  Disappomted — Endurance  of  the  World's  Censure— Doing  Glory  to  God 
in  Pursuits  of  the  World— Vanity  of  Human  Glory- Truth  Hidden  when  not  Sought  after 
—Obedience  to  God  the  Way  to  Faith  in  Christ— Sudden  Conversions— The  Shepherd  of 
our  Souls — Religious  Joy — Ignorance  of  Evil. 

Sermons  Preached  on  Various  Occasions.      Crown  8vo.     Cabine 

Edition,  6s. ;  Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Contents  : — Intellect  the  Instrument  of  Keliirious  Training — The  Religion  of  the 
Pharisee  and  the  Religion  of  Mankind— Waiting  for  Christ— The  Secret  Power  of  Divine 
Grace— Dispositions  for  Faith— Omnipotence  in  Bonds— St.  Paul's  Characteristic  Gift— 
St.  Paul's  Gift  of  Sympathy— Christ  upon  the  Waters— The  Second  Spring— Order,  the 
Witness  and  Instrument  of  Unity— The  Mission  of  St.  Philip  Neri— The  Tree  beside  the 
Waters— In  the  World  but  not  of  the  World— The  Pope  and  the  Revolution. 


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Contents: — Advent:  Self-Denial  the  Test  of  Religious  Earnestness — Divine  Calls — 
The  Ventures  of  Faith — Watching.  Christmas  Day :  Religious  Joy.  New  Year's  Sunday: 
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Sympathy.  Septuagesima :  Present  Blessings.  Sexagesima :  Endurance,  the  Christian's 
Portion.  Quinquagesima :  Love,  the  One  Thing  Needful.  Lent:  The  Individuality  of  the 
Soul — Life,  the  Season  of  Repentance — Bodily  Suffering — Tears  of  Christ  at  the  Grave  of 
Lazarus — Christ's  Privations,  a  Meditation  for  Christians — The  Cross  of  Christ  the  Measure 
of  the  .World.  Good  Friday :  The  Crucifi.xion.  Easter  Day  :  Keeping  Fast  and  Festval. 
Easter  Tide :  Witnesses  of  the  Resurrection — A  Particular  Providence  as  revealed  in  the 
Gospel — Christ  Manifested  in  Remembrance — The  Invisible  World — Waiting  for  Christ. 
Ascension:  Warfare  the  Condition  of  Victory.  Sunday  after  Ascension:  Rising  with 
Christ.  Whitsun  Day :  The  Weapons  of  Saints.  Trinity  Sunday  :  The  Mysteriousness 
of  our  Present  Being.  Sundays  after  Trinity:  Holiness  Necessary  for  Future  Blessedness 
— The  Religious  Use  of  Excited  Feelings — The  Self-Wise  Inquirer — Scripture  a  Record  of 
Human  Sorrow — The  Danger  of  Riches — Obedience  without  Love,  as  instanced  in  the 
Character  of  Balaam — Moral  Consequences  of  Single  Sins — The  Greatness  and  Littleness 
of  Human  Life — Moral  Effects  of  Communion  with  God — The  Thought  of  God  the  Stay  of 
the  Soul — The  Power  of  the  Will — The  Gospel  Palaces — Religion  a  Weariness  to  the 
Natural  Man — The  World  our  Enemy — The  Praise  of  Men — Religion  Pleasant  to  the 
Religious — Mental  Prayer — Curiosity  a  Temptation  to  Sin — Miracles  no  Remedy  for  Un- 
belief—Jeremiah, a  Lesson  for  the  Disappointed — The  Shepherd  of  our  Souls— Doing  Glory 
to  God  in  Pursuits  of  the  World. 

Sermons  Bearing  upon  Subjects  of  the  Day,    Edited  by  the  Rev. 

W.  J.  CoPELAND,  B.D.,  late  Rector  of  Farnham,  Essex.  Crown 
8vo.     Cabinet  Edition,  5s. ;  Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Contents: — The  Work  of  the  Christian — Saintliness  not  Forfeited  by  the  Penitent — 
Our  Lord's  Last  Supper  and  His  First — Dangers  to  the  Penitent — The  Three  Offices  of 
Christ — Faith  and  Experience — Faith  unto  the  World — The  Church  and  the  World — In- 
dulgence in  Religious  Privileges — Connection  between  Personal  and  Public  Improvement 
— Christian  Nobleness — Joshua  a  Type  of  Christ  and  His  Followers — Elisha  a  Type  of 
Christ  and  His  Followers — The  Christian  Church  a  Continuation  of  the  Jewish— The 
Principles  of  Continuity  between  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Churches — The  Christian 
Church  an  Imperial  Power — Sanctity  the  Token  of  the  Christian  Empire — Condition  of  the 
Members  of  the  Christian  Empire — The  Apostolic  Christian — Wisdom  and  Innocence — 
Invisible  Presence  of  Christ — Outward  and  Inward  Notes  of  the  Church — Grounds  for 
Steadfastness  in  our  Religious  Profession — Elijah  the  Prophet  of  the  Latter  Days — Feast- 
ing in  Captivity— The  Parting  of  Friends. 

Fifteen  Sermons  Preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford, 

between  a.d.  1826  and  1843.  Crown  8vo.  Cabinet  Edition,  5s.  ; 
Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Contents  :— The  Philosophical  Temper,  first  enjoined  by  the  Gospel— The  Influence  of 
Natural  and  Revealed  Religion  respectively— Evangelical  Sanctity  the  Perfection  of 
Natural  Virtue — The  Usurpations  of  Reason — Personal  Influence,  the  Means  of  Propagating 
the  Truth — On  Justice  as  a  Principle  of  Divine  Governance— Contest  between  Faith 
and  Sight— Human  Responsibility,  as  independent  of  Circumstances — Wilfulness,  the  Sin 
of  Saul— Faith  and  Reason,  contrasted  as  Habits  of  Mind— The  Nature  of  Faith  in  Relation 
to  Reason— Love,  the  Safeguard  of  Faith  against  Superstition— Implicit  and  Explicit 
Reason— Wisdom,  as  contrasted  with  Faith  and  with  Bigotry— The  Theory  of  Develop- 
ments in  Religious  Doctrine. 


A  SELECT  LIST  OF  WORKS 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN'S  WORKS. 

Apologia  pro  Vita  Sua.  Crown  8vo.  Cabinet  Edition,  6s. ;  Popular 
Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Verses  on  Various  Occasions.  Crown  8vo.  Cabinet  Edition,  6s.; 
Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Discourses   Addressed   to    Mixed    Congregations.      Crown   8vo. 

Cabinet  Edition,  5s. ;    Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Contents  : — The  Salvation  of  the  Hearer  the  Motive  of  the  Preacher — Neglect  of  Divine 
Calls  and  Warnings — Men  not  Angels — The  Priests  of  the  Gospel — Purity  and  Love — 
Saintliness  the  Standard  of  Christian  Principle — God's  Will  the  End  of  Life — Perseverance 
in  Grace — Nature  and  Grace — Illuminating  Grace — Faith  and  Private  Judgment — Faith 
and  Doubt — Prospects  of  the  Catholic  Missioner — Mysteries  of  Nature  and  of  Grace — The 
Mystery  of  Divine  Condescension^The  Infinitude  of  Divine  Attributes— Mental  Sufferings 
of  our  Lord  in  His  Passion— The  Glories  of  Mary  for  the  Sake  of  Her  Son— On  the  Fitness 
of  the  Glories  of  Mary. 

Lectures  on  the  Doctrine  of  Justification.     Crown  Svo.     Cabinet 

Edition,  5s. ;  Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Contents: — Faith  considered  as  the  Instrumental  Cause  of  Justification — Love  con- 
sidered as  the  Formal  Cause  of  Justification — Primary  Sense  of  the  term  'Justification' — 
Secondary  Senses  of  the  term  'Justification' — Misuse  of  the  term  'Just '  or  '  Righteous' — 
The  Gift  of  Righteousness — The  Characteristics  of  the  Gift  of  Righteousness — Righteous- 
ness viewed  as  a  Gift  and  as  a  Quality — Righteousness  the  Fruit  of  our  Lord's  Resurrection 
— The  Office  of  Justifying  Faith — The  Nature  of  Justifying  Faith — Faith  viewed  relatively 
to  Rites  and  Works — On  Preaching  the  Gospel — Appendix. 

On  the  Development  of  Christian  Doctrine.    Crown  Svo.    Cabinet 

Edition,  6s. ;  Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

On  the  Idea  of  a  University.  Crown  Svo.  Cabinet  Edition,  7s.  ; 
Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

An  Essay  in  Aid  of  a  Grammar  of  Assent.    Crown  Svo.    Cabinet 

Edition,  7s.  6d. ;  Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Two  Essays  on  Miracles.  i.  Of  Scripture.  2.  Of  Ecclesiastical 
History.  Crown  Svo.  Cabinet  Edition,  6s. ;  Popular  Edition, 
3s.  6d. 

Discussions   and    Arguments.       Crown    Svo.      Cabinet    Edition,    6s. ; 
Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 
I.  How  to  accomplish  it.     2.  The  Antichrist  of  the  Fathers.    3.  Scrip- 
ture and  the  Creed.     4.     Tamworth  Reading-room.     5.  Who's  to  Blame  ? 
6.  An  Argument  for  Christianity. 

Essays,   Critical  and  Historical.     2  vols.     Crown   Svo.     Cabinet 

Edition,  12s. ;  Popular  Edition,  7s. 
I.  Poetry.  2.  Rationalism.  3.  Apostolic  Tradition.  4.  De  la  Men- 
nais.  5.  Palmer  on  Faith  and  Unity.  6.  St.  Ignatius.  7.  Prospects  of 
the  Anglican  Church.  8.  The  Anglo-American  Church.  9.  Countess  of 
Huntingdon.  10.  Catholicity  of  the  Anglican  Church.  11.  The  Anti- 
christ of  Protestants.  12.  Milman's  Christianity.  13.  Reformation  of 
the  XI.  Century.     14.  Private  Judgment.     15.  Davison.     16.  Keble. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMANS,  GREEN,  &■  CO.  5 

CARDINAL  NEWMAN'S  WORKS. 
Historical  Sketches.  3  vols.  Crown  8vo.  Cabinet  Edition,  6s.  each  ; 
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I.  The  Turks.  2.  Cicero.  3.  Apollonius.  4.  Primitive  Christianity. 
5.  Church  of  the  Fathers.  6.  St.  Chrysostom.  7.  Theodoret.  8.  St. 
Benedict,  g.  Benedictine  Schools.  lo.  Universities.  11.  Northmen  and 
Normans.     12.   Mediasval  Oxford.     13.  Convocation  of  Canterbury. 

The  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century.    Crown  8vo.    Cabinet  Edition, 

6s.  ;  Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Select  Treatises  of  St.  Athanasius  in  Controversy  with  the 
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15s. ;  Popular  Edition,  7s. 

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Ignatius.     3.  Doctrinal  Causes  of  Arianism.      4.  Apollinarianism.     5.  St. 

Cyril's  Formula.     6.  Ordo  de  Tempore.     7.  Douay  Version  of  Scriptures, 

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Vol.     I.  Prophetical  Office  of  the  Church. 
Vol.  II.  Occasional  Letters  and  Tracts. 

Certain  Difficulties  felt  by  Anglicans  in  Catholic  Teaching  Con- 
sidered.   2  vols. 
Vol.    I.    Twelve   Lectures.      Crovim   8vo.      Cabinet   Edition,   7s.   6d. ; 

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Callista.  A  Tale  of  the  Third  Century.  Crown  8vo.  Cabinet 
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A  SELECT  LIST  OF  WORKS 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN'S  WORKS. 

COMPLETION  OF  THE  POPULAR  EDITION. 
Parochial  and  Plain  Sermons.     8  vols.      Each 
Sermons  preached  on  Various  Occasions 
Selection,  from  the  Parochial  and  Plain  Sermons 
Sermons  bearing  on  Subjects  of  the  Day 
Sermons  preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford 
Discourses  addressed  to  Mixed  Congregations 
Lectures  on  the  Doctrine  of  Justification 
On  the  Development  of  Christian  Doctrine 
On  the  Idea  of  a  University       .... 
An  Essay  in  Aid  of  a  Grammar  of  Assent 
Biblical  and  Ecclesiastical  Miracles 
Discussions  and  Arguments  on  Various  Subjects 
Essays,  Critical  and  Historical.     2  vols. 
Historical  Sketches.     3  vols.     Each 
The  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century 
The  Via  Media  of  the  Anglican  Church.     2  vols. 
Difficulties  felt  by  Anglicans  considered.     2  vols. 
Present  Position  of  Catholics  in  England 
Apologia  pro  Vita  Sua   .... 
Theological  Tracts         .... 
Select  Treatises  of  St.  Athanasius.     2  vols. 
Verses  on  Various  Occasions     . 
Loss  and  Gain    ..... 
Callista   ...... 


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BATIFFOL.— History  of  the  Roman  Breviary.    By  Pierre  Batif- 

FOL,  Litt.D.  Translated  by  Atwell  M.  Y.  Baylay,  M.A.,  Vicar 
of  Thurgarton,  Notts.  With  a  New  Preface  by  the  Author.  Crown 
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FOUARD.— The  Christ,  The  Son  of  God.  A  Life  of  Our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  3y  the  Abb6  Constant  Fouard, 
Honorary  Cathedral  Canon,  Professor  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology 
at  Rouen,  etc.,  etc.  Translated  from  the  Fifth  Edition  with  the 
Author's  sanction.  By  George  F.  X.  Griffith.  With  an 
Introduction  by  Cardinal  Manning.  Third  Edition.  With 
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Saint  Peter  and  the   First  Years  of  Christianity.     By  the 

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St.  Paul  and  His  Missions.  By  the  Abb]&  Constant  Fouard. 
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Henri  Dominictue  Lacordaire.  A  Biographical  Sketch.  By  H.  L. 
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A  Christian  Painter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century ;  being  the  Life 

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Fran^aise.  Translated,  by  special  permission,  by  H.  L.  Sidney 
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FENELON.— Spiritual  Letters  to  Men.  By  Archbishop  F^nelon. 
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